Andreas Seidl was unsympathetic to Red Bull's explanations for their cost cap infringement, and believes that their punishment "doesn't fit the breach". Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, it was announced that Red Bull had decided to accept the FIA's proposal of an Accepted Breach Agreement, following their breach of the cost cap in 2021. Their punishment is a $7 million fine and a forfeit of 10% of their aerodynamic development allowance which, added to their allowance reductions for recent success, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner called "draconian amounts" of restriction . In the aftermath of the decision, McLaren's Team Principal Seidl claimed that the punishments hadn't gone far enough. When asked by Sky Sports F1 if he had listened to Horner's press conference, Seidl responded: “No, I didn’t listen to it because I can imagine it was another fairy tale, probably. I'm not really interested in that. “On a positive side I think it’s good to see that 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. “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.”
Seidl: No long-term cost cap risk
When asked if he believed that Formula 1's budget cap was at long-term risk, Seidl commented that appropriate penalties would deter future misdemeanours. "No, not at all. There’s absolutely no reason [for a team] to be in breach this year,” Seidl added. "We had good discussions earlier this year with all teams, with the FIA and with Formula 1 regarding these topics. "That’s why the cap was adjusted, and it was also made clear in these meetings from all teams and from the FIA's side that there is absolutely no reason, after these positive decisions 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 again this year, that it also ends up being appropriate penalties."
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