F1: Vasseur’s cost cap comments premature – Horner

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports that claims from Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur that his team’s 2021 Formula 1 cost-cap penalty was not strong enough are “premature”.

After admitting a ‘minor’ breach having gone $2.2m over the $145m spending limit for 2021, Red Bull were in October 2022 handed a $7m fine and a 10 percent reduction in wind tunnel time for a 12-month period.

Speaking last week, Vasseur said that Red Bull’s strong start to the new campaign had shown that the penalty was “very light”.

Asked by Sky Sports News about Vasseur’s comments, Horner said: “Everybody’s got an opinion and I think everybody’s free to have an opinion.

“The team have done a great job over the winter on the limited wind-tunnel time that we’ve had to develop this car, and of course, that will have an impact later into the year and on next year.

“So on a snapshot of three races, I think it’s still hugely premature in (terms of) this season, there’s an awful lot of racing still to go.”

“There are a lot of things that can change,” Horner said. “We’re hearing of big updates coming for both Ferrari and Mercedes when we get back to Europe.

“So we’re certainly not taking anything for granted, we’re just focused on ourselves, doing the best job we can within the constraints that we have.

“We’re doing the best that we can with what we’ve got, and we know that it’s tough penalty, it’s one that we’re taking on the chin, and we’re applying ourselves in the best way that we possibly can.”