The penalty for Red Bull was not really severe! I consider this a big joke, says Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur

Was punishing Red Bull for exceeding the budget cap in 2021 really effective and severe? According to Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur, certainly not, taking the penalty of a ten per cent reduction in wind tunnel time as a big joke.

The Red Bull Racing team exceeded the allowed budget cap by roughly two million dollars in 2021. The Austrian stable was subsequently punished by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), via two penalties.

Red Bull received a fine of seven million dollars, in addition to a 10 percent reduction in wind tunnel time. The latter is primarily used to improve the aerodynamics of the car and is an essential element in its development.

And given how dominant the Red Bull team has been this season, the FIA’s punishment doesn’t seem to have hurt it significantly. So it’s no surprise that this case continues to circulate through the F1 paddock, leaving many sleepless.

Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur even refers to the limited time in the wind tunnel as a joke and is clear that the punishment for Red Bull was certainly not severe.

“A penalty like the one given last year was not really severe. If the case were to be repeated, such a punishment should be much harsher,” Vasseur said in an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

A 10 percent reduction in time? Big joke!

Another reason for the Maranello stable boss’ indignation is that teams usually have the most important work done before their time limit expires. After that, it’s more about fine-tuning the details.

“The 10% reduction in wind tunnel time is a big joke. They had most of the work done before running out of time,” says Vasseur.

It should be noted that the FIA regulations directly state that if a team exceeds the allowed budget ceiling by a maximum of five percent, it is only a minor infraction against the rules.

It is this argument, however, that Vasseur disagrees with. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, he gave a rough and simplified idea of the annual costs of a given team.

“A five percent violation is not small, but big. If you have a budget of $135 million, $80 million of that goes to personnel. Another $20 million goes to costs that relate to racing, materials, brakes and so on. It also costs about $20 million to produce four chassis at the beginning of the season. Then you get to around $120-125 million, which is about the same for all of them,” the Ferrari boss says.

“That leaves about $10 million for development. If you go a few million over budget, then you shouldn’t be looking at a total of $135 million, as has been said. We shouldn’t sweep it under the carpet. There is a big difference between an innocent mistake and intent. We have to be tough because this is about the future of the budget cap. Otherwise everyone will do the same thing,” he concluded.

Sources: F1, Gazzetta dello Sport