Speaking for the first time since the FIA confirmed that Red Bull breached the budget cap, Lewis Hamilton has warned the sport's governing body that the punishment must be severe.

Indeed, stopping short of saying 'justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done', the seven-time world champion admitted that if the correct signal is to be sent out the FIA must do a little more than slap the Austrian team on the wrist.

"I do think the sport needs to do something about this," he told reporters. "Otherwise, if it's quite relaxed, if they're relaxed with these rules, then all the teams will just go over.

"Spending millions more and then only having a slap on the wrist is obviously not going to be great for the sport," he added. "They might as well not have a cost cap for the future."

Calling on FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem, to "make the right decisions", Hamilton said: "I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, naturally. Otherwise, I'm just focused on doing the best job I can. What they have done, it's done."

Calling for transparency from the sport's governing body he warned that F1 must be "true to the values of the sport and the regulations that were put there to be policed".

"I think it can be a confusing time for fans," he said. "Without the fans, the sport is nothing. So yeah. I think we've just got to hold on to those values."

However, it is understood that the Accepted Breach Agreement given to Red Bull by the FIA specifically limits the sort of punishment that can be meted out, certainly in terms of points deduction, exclusion from events or even limiting Red Bull's budget in future seasons and is more likely to result in a fine.

The Austrian team is due to issue an official statement later today (Friday).

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by elsiebc, 23/10/2022 20:31

"@TON
HAHAHA!!!"

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2. Posted by TON, 22/10/2022 14:02

"Hamilton "The rules must be followed" How those piercings going Lewis"

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3. Posted by elsiebc, 21/10/2022 16:49

""The guilty party is the one who missed to define clear penalties." I agree with ZJAY. As someone else has pointed out, it doesn't matter what gets decided a large number of fans will be disenfranchised by the FIA. In crashgate I don't remember anyone being upset at the sport, just at Flavio and his underlings. It was obvious who was at fault. Same thing with spygate. This financial thing is sooo up to interpretation that it will never be clear and the fault lies with the rule makers for that."

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4. Posted by ZJAY, 21/10/2022 14:56

"The guilty party is the one who missed to define clear penalties. Since it is a financial breach, it should have been defined exactly what the penalty would be for dollar bracket above budget. This would have limited the discussion to teams defending there spending, instead of entering two prong negotiations: how much is the breach in dollar and what the penalty would be for that.

I hope someone one day will hack the FIA and publish the 2019 agreement with Ferrari and the 2022 agreement with Red Bull.

"

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5. Posted by kenji, 21/10/2022 14:33

"@Motorsport -fan...Include me out."

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6. Posted by DaDSouzaDude, 21/10/2022 12:38

"Have I missed something, wasn't RB deemed to be a minor breach whereas another team had a major breach but all the talk is about penalising RB"

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7. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 21/10/2022 11:05

"i think we all agree the punishment should be far more than the FIA deems appropriate."

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8. Posted by Wokingchap, 21/10/2022 10:22

"I totally agree with Sir Lewis on this and other comments here."

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9. Posted by Max Noble, 21/10/2022 8:57

"@Ricardo_sanchez - well stated! Agree that the FIA wishing to allow themselves “wiggle room” on punishments has allowed a grey area so huge that none of us can be sure what level of reprimand will be applied… and as you note, whatever it is no one is going to be happy. "

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10. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 21/10/2022 8:32

"@Max Noble - but none of the drivers are disinterested parties. They all either compete for or against RBR.

If I recall correctly, the regulations mention that a deduction of points is in fact a possibility for a “minor breach”. Presumably, the more significant the breach, the higher the amount of points deducted would be? A major breach could perhaps involve complete disqualification, if the overspend was sufficiently serious.

No one really expects any points deductions that would have change standings, surely? This will all be about damage limitation for all parties.

I do agree that there are no good outcomes here. The regulations are difficult enough to enforce as it is, but the failure to specify exact penalties in the wording of the rules has again left too much to the discretion of the regulator. Whatever they decide, a good proportion of the sports followers will disagree with the judgement.

Inevitably, for many people, this episode will further discredit the sport and the RBR championships for 2021 and 2022 will both now have an asterisk against them. "

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11. Posted by Max Noble, 21/10/2022 6:29

"Lewis is hardly a disinterested party, as he stands to be 2021 WDC if RB are docked points… Also if the FIA hammer RB for what the rules define as a “minor” breach, what options do they have left in seasons to come if someone commits a major breach?

There are no good outcomes from this currant state.
"

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12. Posted by noname33, 21/10/2022 5:29

"@Defiant, I fear you are right..."

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13. Posted by Defiant, 21/10/2022 5:23

"Just another nail in the coffin if they dont act transparently. However, I'm expecting more back room deals and weak punishments."

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Hamilton warns against "slap on the wrist" approach to budget cap breach

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