Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton proposed that Formula One have an equal starting date for their upgrades. This was seemingly a jab at World Drivers' and World Constructors' Championship leaders Red Bull. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem blasted this suggestion as he thinks there is no reason to penalize F1 season leader Max Verstappen.

Red Bull and Mercedes have never had a good relationship with one another. The beef started brewing when Toto Wolff and Christian Horner would take jabs at each other during Lewis Hamilton's WDC reign. They have not let each other go since. It got more heated during the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which Max Verstappen won.

As of the moment, the Dutch driver and Red Bull are dominating the grid. The FIA president thinks that their dominance is fair and should not be questioned at all, per Michelle Foster of Planet F1.

“It is (Verstappen’s) time, it’s Red Bull’s time. What do we do and punish the good kid? No, let’s go and make the other teams good. Nobody’s stopping the other teams from being better. We cannot punish people for being better, for trying harder. That is unfair,” Ben Sulayem said.

He also took a jab at the Mercedes driver.

“If we go about what’s good and bad we’ll open the door. I mean, was it good for Mercedes? Fair enough?” he declared.

Fans of the Silver Arrows have been adamant to point out that Red Bull had been unfair. They posit that Christian Horner's team exceeded the cost cap and should be penalized.

Is the FIA being fair with their callout?