Ferrari chief thinks Red Bull punishment too lenient: 'They won by two tenths'

Laurent Mekies, Ferrari's assistant team principal and racing director, thinks the penalty imposed on Red Bull Racing is far too lenient. The Frenchman judges that the penalty is not enough to offset the advantage gained.

After a long period of rumours and speculation, the FIA and Red Bull Racing finally came to an agreement at the Mexico Grand Prix around the 2021 budget cap violation. Despite Red Bull still insisting that the team would not have broken any rules, both sides agreed to a seven-million-euro fine and 10 per cent less testing time in the wind tunnel for next year.

Red Bull was about 2.2 million euros above the limit, although much of that amount is a wrongly documented tax deduction. According to Mekies, that amount gave Red Bull an excessive advantage, far more than what is offset by this penalty.

"Two million is a significant amount in performance, equivalent to two tenths per lap, " Mekies said in response to the penalty. "I don't understand how the ten per cent less testing time can offset that gained advantage. The budget not spent on aerodynamics will still be used elsewhere..."

The Ferrari engineer is not the only one critical of the penalty. Toto Wolff called the amount too little, and Zak Brown hopes the FIA will crack down harder on similar offences in the future. Christian Horner, however, called the penalty "draconian" heavy.