© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Amid Red Bull’s cost cap scandal, Lewis Hamilton says “spending millions more and only having a slap on the wrist is obviously not going to be great for the sport”.
Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was asked to give his comments on the situation surrounding Red Bull’s cost cap breach.
“There is nothing I can say that will be beneficial,” the Briton said.
“It is all an assumption of what may or may not happen, so I am not giving it any energy.
“I am just focused on trying to gee-up the team, trying to turn this car around and working on things that I can generally control.
“The integrity of the sport… I do believe Mohammed [Ben Sulayem, FIA president] and his team will make the right decisions. I have to believe that, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt naturally.
“Otherwise, I am just focused on doing the best job I can.”
Lewis added he believes Formula 1 can get through this “hurdle”, but has to do everything to protect the integrity of the sport.
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“I don’t think the sport is trying to make mistakes. I think we will continue over the years to be coming up against things and hurdles.
“But I do think, when we talk about integrity, [it’s about] how we navigate through those whilst keeping the core values, being transparent and being true to the values of what the sporting regulations are put there to be policed.
“It can be a confusing time for the fans, and without the fans the sport is nothing. So I think we’ve got to hold onto those values.”
As for what kind of penalty Red Bull should receive, Hamilton believes it has to be severe enough to dissuade teams from breaching the cost cap in the future.
“I do think this sport needs to do something about this so in the future… If they are relaxed with these rules, all the teams will just go over.
“Spending millions more and only having a slap on the wrist is obviously not going to be great for the sport, they might as well not have a cost cap in the future,” he concluded.
