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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Red Bull’s cost cap breach penalty will give Mercedes “an advantage”, but they could be able to “compensate”.
Back in October of 2022, Red Bull has been penalized for their 2021 budget cap breach. The team was handed a $7m fine and a 10% aero testing reduction.
Red Bull already has the least amount of aero testing time in 2023 anyway, due to finishing first in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship, so the team will ultimately have 12% less aero testing time than Ferrari and 17% less than Mercedes.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says this will give Mercedes “an advantage”.
“I think they’ve done a very good job last year getting a car out there that is half a second quicker than anyone else,” the Austrian said.
“The lack of wind tunnel time is certainly not great for them. An advantage for us this season.”
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However, he believes Red Bull could be able to “compensate”.
“If you have an efficient machine you can compensate for that, or large parts of it. Long-term good for us.
“But we have been in the situation, without the penalty, in the years before. We have won and had less wind tunnel time than anyone else in the last two seasons.
“It will bite them a bit, but if they are efficient as an organisation which they have already demonstrated, it’s not going to be big,” Wolff concluded.
