Sebastian Vettel has urged the FIA to quickly clarify any penalties Red Bull may face as a result of the team breaching the cost cap, but said that changing the result of the 2021 championship would be “stupid”.
Red Bull dispute the FIA’s calculation that the team overspent during the 2021 season, but numerous other team bosses including Mercedes’ Toto Wolff and Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto have called for the team to face repercussions.
The rules state that teams can be face a range of penalties up to and including championship exclusions, and with the 2021 championship fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton going down to the wire, any points deductions could have widespread effects.
However, Vettel said while he supported the details of the issue being made public, it didn’t make sense to retrospectively alter the outcome of the 2021 drivers’ championship.
“I think on that stuff, the FIA should come out and make it very clear, very quickly or very soon, because obviously, that’s a bit stupid,” Vettel said.
“Then you raise a point. Maybe you have a point or not, but I think nobody doubts that he was a champion of 21.”
Transparency vital
Vettel added that sport had moved on from the days of backroom deals, and that it was important for the process to be conducted openly.
“I think the best thing will be to be transparent, so that everybody can see what happened. And then you can obviously as the police decide what you want to do and you make the rules in our sport,” he said.
“And then you apply the penalty accordingly. But otherwise you just have a lot of people talking and speculating. I think we’re past that era.”
