Lewis Hamilton has warned Formula One that more teams will break the cost cap following his perceived lack of punishment for the crime.
Rumours have been circulating that up to three teams on the grid have overspent on the £105million set budget for the 2022 season.
It comes after Red Bull were fined £5.4million for their breach during the course of the thrilling 2021 between Hamilton and Max Verstappen, which was revealed in the latter part of last season.
On reports of latest potential breaches ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton told Sky Sports: “It’s definitely a concern. I mean, there wasn’t really a big punishment last time.
“There will be people that will probably go for it again and know they’re just going to get a slap on the wrist.”
Hamilton, meanwhile, said his new deal to stay at Mercedes beyond next season will not be announced before the summer break at the end of the month and may not even happen until after the season is over.
His Mercedes teammate, George Russell, called on F1’s governing body the FIA to be more draconian in cracking down on any teams to have surpassed the budget cap.
He said: “If anyone has breached any regulation, you want the punishment to represent the crime and I think there were breaches last year and clearly the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
“We don’t want to see that happen again. If it’s a second-time offender, the punishment should be even greater than what is perhaps a fair punishment if it happens two years in a row.
“I trust in the FIA, I think [president] Mohammed [Ben Sulayem] is a great force there as well. They won’t let anyone get away with anything that shouldn’t have happened under their watch so I’ve got faith in them.”
