Red Bull are going to feel very little effect of F1's cost-cap penalty, feels former driver

Red Bull will not feel much of a pinch of the penalty that the team received for breaching the 2021 cost cap. That's the view of former Dutch F1 driver Giedo van der Garde.

In an interview with RacingNews365, the Dutch driver revealed that he felt the penalty was not going to have much of an effect on Red Bull as the team has more or less cracked the new regulations. He said:

"I don't think it's all that bad, Red Bull are going to feel very little of that."

He added:

"With the current car being well-developed, the base is already so strong that it's not going to matter that much."

He further said:

"Of course, they might have to adjust something here and there for next year, but even then, they won't be very big adjustments."

The Dutchman's claims are substantiated by the performance gap that the Austrian outfit has managed to build this season. Their margin as frontrunners will undoubtedly cushion a lot of progress that any of the other teams will make over them in light of the penalty.

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A scrappy race is needed to beat Red Bull: Jolyon Palmer

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer picked the Milton-Keynes squad as the team to beat, with Max Verstappen behind the wheel at the 2022 F1 Brazilian GP. The track in Sau Paulo is famous for its long straights and inclement weather that could be a factor this weekend.

Palmer said on the F1 Nations podcast that only a scrappy race from Red Bull like the one in Singapore can lead to a different winner:

"I think you need a bit of a scrappy one because otherwise you're looking at, probably, a Max win because the Red Bull car and certainly with the long straight will be very quick. The only surprise podium we've had this year is [Lando] Norris in Imola."

With rain expected to play a role. It will be interesting to see how the weekend turns out for the Austrian outfit in Sau Paulo. The battle for P2 between their second driver, Sergio Perez, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will also be fascinating to watch.

With Perez leading by five points, Leclerc will have his work cut out for him as the performance gap between the constructors' champions and the Prancing Horse seems to be increasing.