Lewis Hamilton SCOFFS at FIA and insists F1 teams 'WILL' break cost cap again

Hamilton in aanloop naar race in Canada — Photo: © LAT Images

Lewis Hamilton

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Hamilton SCOFFS at FIA and insists F1 teams 'WILL' break cost cap again

The seven-time champion fears that rivals will break rules due to lack of sufficiently severe punishments

Shay Rogers

Thursday 20 July 2023 21:29 Updated: 22:03

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Lewis Hamilton has spoken out against the lack of punishment from the FIA for teams breaking the cost cap rules and warns in may mean teams will break the cap again.

Last season, Red Bull received a $7 million fine, as well as a 10 per cent reduction in wind tunnel time for falling foul of the rules, with many believing that they were let off the hook lightly.

Earlier this week, reports in both the German and Italian media suggested that at least two teams had broken the cap – with some reports even claiming three teams had done so – but the FIA responded on Thursday, saying that the claims were “factually incorrect”, and that the auditing process is ongoing.

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F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has previously called for harsher sporting punishments for cost cap breaches earlier in the week but did accept that the decision is the FIA’s to make.

Hamilton: They’re just going to get a slap on the wrist

It's safe to say that Hamilton agrees with Domenicali's perspective and doesn't believe that the sanctions imposed last time were strong enough.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater, he discussed the punishment (or lack thereof), last time a penalty was handed out.

He said: “Yeah, it’s definitely a concern. It wasn’t really a big punishment last time, there’ll be people that probably go for it again and they’re just going to get a slap on the wrist.”

The FIA have yet to clarify when the results of the 2022 cost cap investigation will be released, however, they did confirm that they are working to complete the process as soon as possible.