Red Bull boss, Christian Horner has hit back at Lewis Hamilton's claim that the team's punishment for exceeding the 2021 budget cap didn't go far enough.

Last year saw the Austrian team fined $7m for what the FIA described as a "minor" breach of the 2021 cap, as well as a 10% reduction in windtunnel time.

Clearly frustrated that the reduction in windtunnel time doesn't appear to have affected the Milton Keynes based outfit, which has won all ten races thus far, in response to rumours that two teams have exceeded the 2022 cap, Hamilton said: "There wasn't really a big punishment last time, there's no real... there will be people that will probably go for it again and know they are just going to get a slap on the wrist."

"There were breaches last year and clearly the punishment didn't fit the crime," chipped in teammate George Russell. "We don't want to be seeing that happen again and if it's a second time offender the punishment should be even greater than what perhaps is a fair punishment."

"Believe me, the hit that we've taken with the lack of wind tunnel time that we have compared to our competitors is a massive compromise," Horner told Sky Sports in response to the Mercedes pair's claim. "If wind tunnels don't count then why don't we just get rid of them?

"It's always easy to throw shade when you're not performing. It's one of the things in Formula One that will always continue to happen."

On the cusp of a record 12th consecutive victory, Horner added: "I'm just incredibly proud of the job that our team's doing with the constraints and handicap that we have.

"To be performing at the level we have this year, to have achieved 11 straight victories... it's been an outstanding achievement."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by meatball, 24/07/2023 14:19

"Every time the Merc team opens their mouths they proceed to make themselves look even more childish. The car was a dog last year and they were too pig headed to scrap it right away. Their complete disinterest in acknowledging the years prior to the GFX cars really doesn't help their case at all."

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2. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 22/07/2023 10:59

"It appears Red Bull used a loophole in the regulations where work in the wind tunnel related to engine cooling does not count towards overall usage, so they redesigned the radiators and inlet - exit layout under this loophole which then culminated in the revised sidepods, genius!"

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3. Posted by Chester, 22/07/2023 10:35

"The moaning gets louder at tracks where Mercedes is weakest. Yesterday Martin Brundle noted the Mercedes was the least composed through turn 13. I guess Red Bull must be at fault."

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4. Posted by Dajomas, 22/07/2023 9:10

"@Spindoctor, can you imagine how far ahead the Bulls would have been with all the allowed Tunnel & CFM time??? And the moaning and complaining would be even louder from certain individuals"

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5. Posted by Greg, 22/07/2023 9:02

"Adrian Newey at his best. Always outside the box in his thinking"

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6. Posted by Spindoctor, 22/07/2023 8:57

"Mr Horner is clearly no fan of empiricism.
It may well be the case that the reduction in Tunnel & CFM time has had an effect on RBR's development programme, maybe even a significant one, but clearly it has not compromised the performance of the car which is the objective measure...."

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7. Posted by Fambank, 22/07/2023 8:31

"When Newey sees in Flow Vis."

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Horner hits back at Hamilton's budget cap comment

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