The FIA was investigating whether the teams exceeded the budget cap, and now they are preparing to announce their conclusion. Christian Horner emphasized that he is confident that Red Bull did not exceed Formula One’s budget cap rules last season.
At the Singapore GP, reports emerged that Red Bull had spent more than the $145m budget cap last season, but Red Bull’s principal Horner repeatedly dismissed the claims.
In the Singapore GP, Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez took a strong, while Max Verstappen could manage only seventh. Max is on course to retain the drivers’ title at the next round in Japan this weekend.
This weekend, all the teams will travel to the next round in Japan. While the FIA is assessing all the teams’ financial submissions and can impose penalties for breaking the rules, which could change the result of last year’s championship.
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, had described it as an open secret in the paddock that two teams had overspent last year, which gave them an unfair material advantage.
Horner had described some of Wolff’s remarks as defamatory and threatened potential legal action, which he insisted remained on the table.
Horner said, what I said still stands, and we will consider all our options. Moreover, he said, It was unacceptable to make a completely unfounded allegation, and based on what knowledge? Where is this source of information?
On Sunday, after the race, Horner repeated his belief that the team was well within the rules. On asked if he was nervous about the FIA ruling, Horner replied, No. Horner said we are confident in our submission, and our audit was signed off by our auditors. We believe we are comfortably within the cap, he said.
There are two types of budget cap breaches in rules, those under 5% are considered minor, and those above 5% are considered serious material breaches. The governing body can impose penalties, which include a deduction of points or exclusion from the championship.
