Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel agree on Max Verstappen penalty in Red Bull row | F1 | Sport

Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have claimed Max Verstappen should not be stripped of his world title despite Red Bull breaking F1 rules. The former world champions both came out in support of the Dutchman who is facing questions over the validity of his 2021 title win.

Speaking to Motorsport-total.com, Vettel said: “The best thing would be to be transparent so that everyone can see what happened. Otherwise people just talk and speculate. In this regard, the FIA should make a quick and clear decision, otherwise it’s a bit stupid.

No one has any doubts that [Max] is the world champion in 2021.” It comes after Red Bull were found guilty of breaking F1’s strict budget cap allowance last season.

The team spent under five per cent more than the total limit meaning they are guilty of a minor transgression. This is understood to be below the threshold for major punishments such as points deduction which could affect Verstappen’s crown.

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However, it has not stopped some F1 fans, including Lewis Hamilton supporters, from demanding the FIA revoke Verstappen’s success. Alonso also backed the Red Bull star, stressing the team had only exploited “grey areas” in the regulations.

He said grey areas were usually aerodynamic but has now become financial. He explained: “That’s the nature of Formula One. All world champions exhaust the [grey] areas.”

Red Bull are yet to learn the extent of the penalty they are to be awarded for breaching the rules. It is expected this will come in the form of a financial punishment such as a heavy fine.

However, Sky Sports host Ted Kravitz has suggested rival team principals are calling for a much tougher penalty to set an example to others.

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He claims others are pushing for Red Bull to be removed from this season’s constructor standings as well as lose any prize money. Furthermore, other team bosses want to see Red Bull pushed down to the back of the pit lane to prevent others from breaking rules in the future.

Hamilton has also stressed the FIA needed to take action to prevent future incidents.

He commented: “I do think that sport needs to do something about this in the future otherwise, if it’s quite relaxed… if they relax with these rules, then all the teams would just go over, spending millions more and then only having a slap on the wrist, is obviously not going be great for the sport. They might as well not have a cost cap in the future.”