“Penalty doesn’t fit the breach,” Andreas Seidl not “overly pleased” with FIA’s penalty on Red Bull for 2021 budget cap breach


“Penalty doesn’t fit the breach,” Andreas Seidl not “overly pleased” with FIA’s penalty on Red Bull for 2021 budget cap breach

Andreas Seidl

Andreas Seidl, the McLaren Team Principal, has shared his opinion on the penalty that has been imposed on the Red Bull team for its 2021 budget cap breach and has indicated that he is not overly pleased with it.

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The Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner came up with an in detail explanation about the happenings that led to their budget cap breach but Andreas Seidl has totally bashed their explanation.

He ardently believes that the penalty does not do full justice, and going forwards, the FIA should come up with stricter penalties.

Red Bull after signing an Accepted Breach Agreement has been slapped with a fine of $7 million and a 10 percent reduction in their wind tunnel time going forwards.

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Moreover, Horner has deemed the penalties as ‘draconian’ as he believes that the breach did not help the team in gaining any on-track advantage last year.

Christian Horner
Christian Horner

Seidl during his interview was asked whether he had listened to Horner’s comments, and while replying he said, “No, I didn’t listen to it because I can imagine it was another fairy tale, probably. Not really interested in that.”

In the end, on the positive side, I think it’s good to see the FIA did a good job in terms of doing the audit. Nine teams got it right and it was clear one team was in breach, so that’s a positive outcome.”

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Andreas Seidl feels that Red Bull should have been given a harsher penalty

Andreas Seidl
Andreas Seidl

While a lot has been about the penalty that has been imposed on the Red Bull team for its breach, Andreas Seidl is not too pleased with the penalty, as, in his opinion, the penalty is mild and should have been a bit harsher.

While stressing on the same, Seidl added, “But on a negative side, it’s also clear, from my point of view, that the penalty doesn’t fit the breach. I just hope moving forward we have stricter penalties in place.” 

F1 introduced the budget cap for the first time last year, as efforts were made to reduce the spending differentials throughout the grid.”

Moreover, the 46-year-old is extremely confident that no other team is going to do what Red Bull did last year as he ardently believes that they will not go over the 2022 budget cap.

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He further adds, “There’s absolutely no reason to be in breach this year,” he said. “We had good discussions earlier this year with all teams, the FIA and F1 regarding these topics.”

FIA
FIA

That’s why the cap was adjusted and it was also made clear from all teams and the FIA’s side that there is absolutely no reason, after this positive decision in the interests of the sport, that there is any breach at the end of the year.”

I just hope if there is any breach, it ends up being appropriate penalties.”

While Andreas Seidl has shown optimism about no one overspending in the 2022 F1 season, he has admitted that, if any of the teams are found guilty of going over the current campaign’s budget cap, then the penalties on them should be appropriate, not like the one that’s been imposed on the Austrian team for their last year’s breach.

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