Red Bull sporting penalty demanded in "crucial" FIA budget cap ruling

Sam Hall
Wednesday 26 October 2022 07:00

Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has deemed it "crucial" that Red Bull is handed a sporting penalty and not just a financial sanction for its budget cap breach.

Red Bull is the only team ruled to have spent beyond the prescribed $145 million limit last season, with the minor infraction believed to be no more than $2m.

Red Bull has ferociously maintained its innocence in the matter after a letter from McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown accused the team of "cheating". Horner claimed these claims were "appalling".

READ: Furious Horner takes aim at McLaren's Brown over 'appalling' Red Bull cheat claim

The Milton Keynes-based team has received an 'accepted breach agreement' offer from the FIA which removes sanctions including a points deduction and budget cap reduction from the table.

But Vasseur believes it is imperative that the team is not able to escape with only a financial punishment.

"The most important thing for me is that it is a good level of penalty, that it is not because we are in a rush that we have to do something like this and take a decision," said Vasseur.

"This is crucial for F1 and for the future of the cost cap and now it is in the hands of the FIA to find the right level of punishment.

"But for me, it has to be a sporting [penalty] because, at the end of the day, it is a sporting infringement. We are not speaking about a financial [penalty].

"We are speaking about an update and at the end of the day, we have to find the right level of punishment."