Ferrari's sporting director, Laurent Mekies says the Italian team is not happy with the leniency shown to Red Bull over its budget cap breach, while contradicting Christian Horner's claim that the (10%) reduction on aero testing will hurt.

After weeks... and weeks... and weeks of waiting, the FIA finally announced the results of its analysis of the teams' financial submissions, and the penalties agreed following Red Bull's acceptance of an Accepted Breach Agreement.

Along with a $7m fine, the Austrian time faces a reduction in the time it is allowed to spend on aerodynamic testing in 2023.

It is the latter part of the penalty that Horner has described as "Draconian", the Briton dismissing claims that the FIA has essentially only slapped the Austrian team on the wrist.

"The more draconian part is the sporting penalty," said Horner, "which is a 10 percent reduction on our ability to utilise our wind tunnel and aerodynamic tools.

"I've heard people reporting today that that is an insignificant amount, but let me tell you that is an enormous amount," he insisted. "That represents anywhere between 0.25s and 0.5s of lap time.

"That comes in from now, it has a direct effect on next year's car and it will be in place for a 12-month period.

"By winning the Constructors' Championship we have become victims of our own success by, in addition to that ten percent, having five percent incremental disadvantage or handicap compared to second and third place. That 10 percent put into reality will have an impact on our ability to perform on track next year."

Not so, argues Mekies, who, like Zak Brown, Toto Wolff and Andreas Seidl, believes the world champions got off lightly.

"We have talked a lot in recent weeks about what one can do with half a million more, or a million or two or three," he told Sky Italia. "Two million is a significant amount and we have given our opinion several times on this topic.

"We at Ferrari think that this amount is worth around a couple of tenths per lap," he continued, "and so it's easy to understand that these figures can have a real impact on the outcome of the races, and maybe even a championship.

"As for the penalty, we are not happy with it, for two important reasons. The first is that we at Ferrari do not understand how the 10% reduction of the ATR can correspond to the same amount of lap time that we mentioned earlier. Furthermore, there is another problem in that. Since there is no cost cap reduction in the penalty, the basic effect is to push the competitor to spend the money elsewhere. It has total freedom to use the money it can no longer spend on use of the wind tunnel and CFD due to the 10% reduction, on reducing the weight of the car, or who knows what else.

"Our concern is that the combination of these two factors means the real effect of the penalty is very limited."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 31/10/2022 6:43

"@ Max Noble...hahaha I agree exactly 100% with all your comments and analogies. Extremely well said. My memory sometimes fails me and ATM I can't be ****d to delve deeper but I seem to recall Wollf/Hamilton saying something around the fact that a $300/500K upgrade is worth a tenth or so on track. If that's anywhere near the truth [?] then RB have been penalised a possible 14 upgrades and even worse, have lost valuable tunnel time which is No.1 principle area in this aero accentuated era. To claim otherwise is talking 'overripe bananas'...headed for the trash can."

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2. Posted by Superbird70, 30/10/2022 13:48

"I still think a more suitable punishmdnt would have to not allow them to run any sort of Red Bull livery next year. "

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 30/10/2022 11:17

"@Workingchap - come on… that’s like asking the butcher if you should have a vegan meal this evening… Ferrari have a vested interest in sinking RB. Also, any team that thinks a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time is “nothing” is talking bananas. It is a massive hit. If it is not, then it tends to suggest your next cost saving is sacking your aero department…

"

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4. Posted by Wokingchap, 30/10/2022 10:03

"Apart from Pot, Kettle, Black, which I agree with, I also agree with what L.Mekies says here and just cannot believe a word Horner says from here on. "

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5. Posted by Max Noble, 30/10/2022 7:57

"Given the FIA highlighted RB missed a tax concession and the breach was as a result pocket change, the punishment is actually a well reasoned “harsh” response. Ferrari bleating on is as the old advert used to say… “Ferrari complaining endlessly to the FIA? Priceless… For everything else there is MasterCard.”
"

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6. Posted by Defiant, 29/10/2022 19:01

"ohhhhhh POT, KETTLE, BLACK comes to mind."

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7. Posted by yakker, 29/10/2022 14:36

"Laurent Mekies, why don't you tell us about your secret deal with the FIA about your illegal engine.
At least RedBulls offence has been made public."

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8. Posted by KKK, 29/10/2022 14:33

"Totally agree with Ferrari.....a team breaks the cap rule and wipes the floor, so they pay a $7m fine. Red Bull says "so what" we won anyway. Teams will now break the rule, overspend to win and willbe totally indifferent to any fine."

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Ferrari "not happy" with budget breach penalty

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