Ferrari team leader Frederic Vasseur still thinks the fine imposed on Red Bull for violating financial regulations is unjustified. In 2021, the Milton Keynes team went over its $145 million budget and was fined $7 million and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Vasseur said such a lenient punishment could motivate other teams to break the rules…
Frederic Wasser: “Last year’s fine against Red Bull cannot be considered serious. If the financial rules are broken again, the penalty should be much more severe.
In our sport, a technical advantage entails a sporting advantage, and therefore the penalty should be sporting, not monetary. In football, if you have played a hand, a penalty is awarded, which affects the sports result, and not a penalty. And the 10% reduction in wind tunnel time is like a joke – by then they had done most of the work.
A budget overrun of 5% may seem minor, but it’s actually a serious offense. With a budget cap of $135 million. [в 2024-м], 80 million goes to personnel, another 20 for racing costs, materials, brakes and so on. The production of four chassis at the start of the season also costs around 20 million. You have already spent 120-125 million, this applies equally to everyone. Only about $10 million is left for development.
If you go over your budget by a few million, don’t go for the $135 million total. There is a big difference between an innocent mistake and a conscious choice. On this issue, the position should be difficult – the issue is whether we can maintain a budget constraint in the future, because many large companies can afford such a fine.
Source: F1 News

I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.