Sainz marvels at rapid RB18 development throughout 2022

Mattia Binotto voiced his displeasure last week over the possible overshoot of the budget ceiling in 2021. The Ferrari team boss argued that Formula 1's credibility is at stake. Charles Leclerc is slightly less outspoken, but he too thinks a penalty is only logical if the rules have been broken. Carlos Sainz also has his say on Thursday in Suzuka.

Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin are the two teams that may have overspent. The FIA is currently conducting an extensive investigation to list whether and, if so, how much extra money was spent. A report will be revealed by the governing body on Monday.

Leclerc would say it is a bad thing if a team like Red Bull was able to introduce more updates last year because they had more money to spend. Last week, it has been repeatedly said by several people that that could yield several tenths.

Speaking about ourselves of course if we have more to spend you will go faster on track. So if there’s any team found guilty of that, they should be punished", Leclerc told Crash.net and others at the press conference. "Then what’s the punishment? I’m not the one to decide, but for sure it should be punished.”

Sainz also has question marks

Carlos Sainz calls it at Motorsport-Total.com further very striking that Red Bull has been able to develop its own RB18 so quickly in 2022. According to him, this would never have been possible at Ferrari in the current situation with the budget ceiling. Sainz is not suggesting Red Bull is flouting the rules, but he does marvel at the rapid development. He is therefore hoping for a hefty penalty if it turns out that the Austrian rival has failed to play by the rules in 2021.