Lewis Hamilton is adamant the penalty handed to Red Bull for breaching Formula 1 budget cap rules "definitely" hasn't had an adverse effect on them.
The FIA announced last October that Red Bull had overspent in the 2021 season by a "minor" amount. After weeks of talks the governing body agreed a sanction with the team.
On top of a hefty fine, Red Bull lost 10 per cent of their wind tunnel testing time over the next 12 months. It was a sporting penalty that team boss Christian Horner has repeatedly insisted will have an impact on their performance.
So far, the defending champions have shown no signs of being troubled by it. They are 154 points clear of their nearest rivals in the standings and have won all eight races so far this year.
With the penalty in mind, Horner has already admitted his team is now focussed on developing the 2024 car. But Sky Sports F1 pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz's reaction to that revelation was to question if the punishment has had any sporting impact at all.
He said after Red Bull won in Canada last time out: "They've already got the advantage with this year's car. We're not even halfway through the season and already they can have the capacity and aerodynamic wind tunnel testing time – even considering the penalty for the accepted breach agreement on the cost cap – to concentrate on next year's car.
"So it's a virtuous circle, having such a good car this year. It might end up that the cost cap breach and the penalty of ten per cent less wind tunnel time that Red Bull had might end up not being a penalty at all. If they can start now on next year's car, then it's not a penalty at all, is it?"
On Thursday, ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Kravitz spent a few minutes speaking with Hamilton in the TV pen. And his very first question was to ask whether he agreed that Red Bull's sanction has not had much of an effect.
Kravitz said: "I'm tempted to pick up and and ask you if you think, with Red Bull starting on next year's car, the 10% break on the cost cap, will it end up costing them at all? It's something we were talking about at the end of Canada."
The reply from Hamilton was: "I don't think it did anyway. The penalty didn't cost them anything." Kravitz probed further: "They say it will cost them at the end of the year." But Hamilton laughed that off by adding: "It definitely, definitely, definitely didn't. [The impact] was so small."
And to illustrate that assertion, the Mercedes driver put his forefinger and thumb close together to show just how little of an impact he feels Red Bull have felt from the punishment for breaking budget cap rules.
