Lewis Hamilton has warned that if Red Bull do not receive a serious penalty for their breach of the Formula One budget cap the purpose of the spending limit will be rendered pointless in future. Hamilton has previously made it clear he believes an overspend could have had a material effect on the outcome of the 2021 world championship, in which he was narrowly beaten to the title by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The row has dominated F1 since the FIA announced Red Bull had breached the cap, the day after Verstappen sealed his second title at the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks ago. Red Bull deny they exceeded the $145m ceiling imposed in 2021, with the team understood to believe the discrepancy is due to a differing interpretation of the rules. It has been reported that the breach may have been as much as $2m, a sum Hamilton has pointedly noted would have been enough to bring significant performance upgrades to a car in 2021.
