2016 F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg believes the FIA, the World motorsport governing body, is in a sticky situation over the potential Red Bull penalty for breaching the F1 cost cap that was revealed post the Japanese GP last week. He believes that if it were to take away points from Red Bull or Verstappen who won the driver’s title on the last lap of the last race in a contentious way, it would be bad for the image of the sport. It will be bad for the Red Bull brand as well, even more so after the passing of its founder Dieter Mateschitz.
But he also added that if Red Bull indeed breached the cost cap by a significant margin which is the reason for its super competitiveness that has also resulted in Verstappen and the team winning the 2022 World Championship, it will need to come hard and set a precedent.
Max Verstappen won the 2022 F1 World Championship with 4 races to spare.
Red Bull and the FIA have reportedly agreed on a penalty which will include a major fine and 25 per cent reduction in aerodynamic testing time which will likely mean it will have half the development allowance as the next best team. There are rumours which also suggest that there could be a reduction in the F1 cost cap. But the announcement of the penalty has been delayed because of the passing of Mateschitz which happened over the weekend.
“The horrible thing in this is the [2021] championship was decided by one second, if I remember correctly, on the last lap of the last race. I don’t know how they will figure this out. It’s not good,” said Rosberg.
Universally, even Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has said that taking away Verstappen’s driver’s title wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Most teams want Red Bull to be struck with severe aerodynamic and cost cap restrictions which would hobble their progress which many believe could be a dominating period till 2026.
