"It will be snow melting in the sun"- Ferrari boss on his expectations from FIA's cost cap report

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has admitted that he is a bit pessimistic about how the whole cost cap situation will be handled. Binotto touched on the fact that the rules were pre-defined, which made it questionable why there were certain aspects on which teams were having a discussion.

During a conversation with Sky Italia on Saturday, October 8, the Ferrari boss was very blunt when talking about the cost cap situation, and felt that more needed to be done to have clarity and transparency regarding the execution of the process. He said:

"There are points which the FIA is contesting and the team is trying to defend itself. Regardless of what comes out, and I fear it will be snow melting in the sun, I think all these decisions, how they have interpreted the regulations, what they have granted - because they will certainly have granted something - it all comes out clearly and transparently."

The Ferrari boss further contested that:

"The rules were clear from the beginning, they were discussed. We don't understand the need to have to change them today beyond the fact that this is the first year with the budget cap. Because with the FIA, there have always been constant exchanges and we have always tried to clarify them. I am a bit pessimistic about this, but first of all, clarity and transparency from the FIA will be important."

The cost cap report was supposed to be published on Wednesday last week but got pushed to the Monday after the 2022 F1 Japanese GP.

Red Bull's Christian Horner was also questioned on his views regarding the delay in the cost cap report. Horner admitted that the team was expecting the report to be released on Wednesday and will now be waiting to see what happens on Monday with the same. He said:

"We were expecting the certificates as well on Wednesday, hoping for them on Wednesday, but that's obviously been delayed for all of the teams. The FIA have obviously taken that choice. We wait with interest to see what happens on Monday. But again, we feel that we've absolutely complied with the cost cap, with the regulations. We're happy with our submission, and await to hear what the feedback is."

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Ferrari boss takes umbrage with the swiftness of the Charles Leclerc penalty

Ferrari's Mattia Binotto was also not happy with how quickly Charles Leclerc was given a 5-second penalty after the race. The same did not happen in Singapore, where Sergio Perez was given an opportunity to present his case in front of the stewards. Speaking about the penalty, the Ferrari boss said:

“Seven days after Singapore, where they took so many laps to decide and then after the race, we had to hear from the drivers to take a simple decision which was straightforward, today they took it in a few seconds. [I’m] surprised by such different behaviors between Singapore and here, after only a few days."

He further added:

“Was the decision of a 5-second penalty right or wrong? In our view, he [Leclerc] honestly didn’t gain the advantage. He was ahead, he stayed ahead, he’s got the gap, he kept the same gap. So still arguable, but that is the way they decided, which we will accept."

The last few weeks have seen the FIA under fire for far too many things, ranging from the cost cap report and Sergio Perez's post-race penalty in Singapore to the way it handled the set start in Japan. With the cost cap report due on Monday, things are surely not going to get any better for the governing body.