Ferrari boss unhappy with ‘light’ Red Bull penalty for cost cap breach

Fred Vasseur, who took over as Ferrari team principal at the start of this year, gave his opinion on Red Bull’s punishment for breaching the 2021 Formula 1 budget cap

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur insists Red Bull’s penalty for breaching the 2021 F1 cost cap was “very low” as Christian Horner’s team look set to run away with the world championship again this season.

Red Bull, who won both titles last year as well as the Drivers’ Championship with Max Verstappen in 2021, were fined £6m and docked 10% of their allotted car development time after being found guilty of a minor overspend of the budget cap.

Despite Horner stating at the time that the punishment could cost them as much as half-a-second in lap time, Red Bull look even more dominant this year with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, at times, lapping a second-a-lap quicker than the rest of the field on raceday.

While Red Bull have won all three opening races, Vasseur’s opening month in charge at Ferrari – where he took over from the axed Mattia Binotto in the off-season – has been challenging with retirements and penalties to contend with for both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Yet speaking to reporters last week, the Frenchman emphasised that the penalty applied to Red Bull was not severe enough.

“The [cost cap] penalty for me was very low,” Vasseur said.

“If you consider that basically we will improve a bit less than a second over the season in terms of aero, you get a penalty of 10% of this it’s one-tenth and as it’s not a linear progression it’s probably less. And you are allowed to spend this money somewhere else, so it means for me the penalty is marginal.

“They did a good job but I’m still convinced that the penalty was very light. If you consider the rate of development that we have during the season, if you consider the fact that if you have a 10% ban it’s at the end, that means it’s not something that’s linear; you are sum-toting the performance.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur insists Red Bull’s penalty for breaching the 2021 F1 cost cap was “very low” (Getty Images)

“Then you can spend what you are saving on the wind tunnel somewhere else, on the weight saving and so on, I’m not sure that the effect is mega.

“And if you consider that you have an advantage at the beginning of the season because you spend more the year before, then the compensation.

“But I don’t want to say that they didn’t do a good job, because I think honestly that they did a very good job on the car.

“I’m not trying to find an excuse at all. It’s not this. But if you ask me if the penalty is too light, I say yes.”

The FIA will hold a hearing on Tuesday to address Ferrari’s appeal for Sainz’s penalty at the Australian Grand Prix, which resulted in the Spaniard dropping from fourth to out of the points.