Red Bull found to have only committed a minor breach of £114m spending cap
>
EXCLUSIVE: Lewis Hamilton will NOT be handed last year’s world title after Red Bull was found to have committed only a minor breach of the £114m spending cap and not the speculated £10million… with Christian Horner being vindicated
- FIA to publish audit findings in Red Bull’s spending cap for 2021 season
- Horner denied allegations that they were £10m above the £114m ceiling
- The difference could be around £1million and is nothing more than a ‘procedural’ breach
- Hamilton was controversially beaten to the title by Verstappen last season
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Lewis Hamilton will not be handed last year’s world championship crown retroactively, with Red Bull finding only a minor breach – if at all – of the budget cap when the FIA finally publishes its audit findings.
The results of the trial are expected to be announced on Wednesday, but there is a slim chance it could even be postponed as the governing body considers bidding its time on the sensitive matter. They don’t want to be seen sticking to deadlines set by someone else.
Sports post understands allegations privately leveled by a number of teams that Red Bull was about £10million above the £114million ceiling will not be confirmed when the ruling is made public. The amount in question is at the bottom of the scale.
Max Verstappen retains his 2021 F1 championship title after the FIA investigation
One source said the discrepancy could be just a million or so, maybe even less, and is nothing more than a “procedural” violation.
Should this prove to be the case, it would mean Max Verstappen’s final lap win over Hamilton would hold. It would also justify Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, who has felt unfairly vilified by accusers who he believes have used swabs rather than hard evidence to accuse his team of cheating in their path to success.
He has every right to feel he has been prosecuted in a public opinion kangaroo court with rivals, led by Ferrari and Mercedes, who gave a public and private briefing against Red Bull in the run-up to the Grand last Friday. Singapore Prix based on accounting information – some of which was seemingly generally inaccurate – that should have remained between the teams and the FIA while the auditing process took place.
Lewis Hamilton (front) was controversially picked to the title by Verstappen last season
The allegations were deeply felt by sponsors last weekend in the Red Bull hospitality area in the damp paddock, where Verstappen got his first, albeit unrepentant, chance to round out his second title in crushing style.
Horner says rivals have leveled their allegations in an attempt to undermine the validity of Red Bull’s success, forcing their 25-year-old Dutch driver to head to Japan this Sunday and score eight points more than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take his crown preserve.
For now, both Mercedes and Red Bull are holding their ground and do not want to incite FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem into a hasty reaction that could harm their goals at this delicate stage.
It is known from various sources that one of the points the FIA and Red Bull are debating concerns keeping on the payroll of staff made redundant due to ill health.
Red Bull submitted their finances to the FIA in March, after being cleared by their own auditors, on the assumption that they were about £4million below the limit to give themselves headroom. The process is taking a long time, partly because the budget cap was only introduced before 2021 and some aspects of it are still under stress.
Toto Wolff had demanded the FIA enforce their own rules on Red Bull’s spending cap
Red Bull chief Christian Horner has denied spending cap allegations against his team