Lewis Hamilton has reiterated his belief that the FIA will uphold the "integrity" of Formula 1 in the wake of Red Bull's cost cap breach. After the recent auditing of the 10 teams by the FIA, it was found that Red Bull had exceeded the $145 million budget permitted in the 2021 season - the only team to do so. A potential penalty for this breach - understand by RacingNews365.com to be about $1.8 million - could be a points deduction for drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. This is particularly pertinent as Hamilton lost out on an eighth world title on the final lap of the 2021 season to Verstappen in controversial circumstances following a Safety Car restart with one lap to go at the Abu Dhabi GP. But while he says he is not focused on the past, Hamilton does believe strong action is required to prevent similar breaches - and that the FIA will do what is best for F1.
Hamilton hoping for 'right decisions' from FIA
"I can't really give much of an answer as there's nothing I can say that would be beneficial," the Mercedes driver told media including RacingNews365.com. "It'll be on the assumption of what may or may not happen, so I'm not giving it any energy. I'm focused on really continuing to try and gee up the team, really trying to turn this car around and working on things I can generally control. "Like I've said in the past, the integrity of the sport is where I think the decisions that hopefully will be made will be the right ones by Mohammed and his team. "I have to believe that and give them the benefit of the doubt - naturally so."
Hamilton: Punishment should be a deterrent
When pushed further, Hamilton believed that a relaxed penalty could encourage other teams to overspend if a small fine is what they receive as punishment. "I do think that sport needs to do something about this," he said. "So in the future otherwise, if it is quite relaxed with these rules, then all the teams would just go over and be spending millions more. "Only having a slap on the wrist is obviously not going to be great for the sport."
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