The spat over probable breaches of the Formula One budget cap in 2021 escalated in Singapore on Saturday, with Christian Horner of Red Bull threatening legal action against Mercedes and accusing Toto Wolff of “hugely defamatory, fabricated accusations.”
Earlier, it came to light that the FIA was examining two teams, thought to be Red Bull and Aston Martin, with Wolff calling it an “open secret” in the paddock. He stated that “one team is in small violation, which is more procedural, while another team is fundamentally and substantially over.”
In a stormy press conference at the Marina Bay circuit, Horner aggressively defended his team and accused his rivals of attempting to detract from the possibility of his driver Max Verstappen winning his second title on Sunday.
“The team’s filings to the FIA are confidential,” he said. “I have no idea what the outcome of our competitors’ proposal is, thus I am curious as to where they obtained the material for these fraudulent assertions. They are incredibly defamatory, and one can only believe it’s no coincidence that they surface just before Max makes his maiden attempt at a world title.
Wolff had emphasized how severe he felt a breach of the $145 million budget cap to be. In response, Horner asserted that his team did not over the limit. Wolff stated, “It’s heavyweight, massively heavyweight.” “We utilize used parts. We do not run what we would like to run, and we do not develop what we could build.”
The FIA will not comment until it has completed its evaluation, with Wednesday’s announcement of the teams’ cost submissions likely. Horner was sure that he would respond to the comments made by rival teams.
“The FIA has declared that they have not concluded their investigation, so unless there is a definitive retraction of those statements, we will take this matter very seriously,” he said. “We will consider all of our legal options, as it is inexcusable to make yesterday’s slanderous remarks about the team, the sponsors, and Formula One.
“[Mercedes] was quite clear in mentioning Red Bull, so when you accuse me of creating accusations, the accusations were made by Mercedes. We do not know if we have violated the guidelines, and we will not know until next week when the procedure has been completed.”
Ferrari’s race director, Laurent Mekies, questioned whether other teams had met the financial limit and urged the FIA to act swiftly. “We anticipate that, for such a significant situation, there will be complete openness and maximum punishments to guarantee that we are all racing under the same rules,” he said.
Verstappen won the championship last season, but the FIA has a variety of sanctions at its disposal, ranging from fines and race bans to point deductions and the potential exclusion of a team from a championship, any of which may have altered the outcome.
The FIA identifies two sorts of violations, “minor” violations below 5% of the cost ceiling and “material” violations beyond 5% for which severe penalties may be levied.
