Hamilton and Verstappen react to FIA delaying decision on Red Bull spending

Sir Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are both hoping that the outcome of Red Bull’s budget cap breach allegations brings some clarity and closure to the matter.

Last week it was reported that two teams, supposedly Red Bull and Aston Martin, had overspent during the 2021 season and if found guilty could be punished with anything from fines to point deductions to exclusion from the championship.

The FIA were set to publish their findings on Wednesday, but instead the governing body announced that that would be delayed until Monday after this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull and their team principal Christian Horner have strongly denied any wrongdoing, but even a minor breach of the budget cap would taint Verstappen’s championship win from last year in the eyes of fans and the F1 paddock.

Speaking to Sky Sports on Thursday, Hamilton, who narrowly lost the title to Verstappen in 2021, said that at times last season he sensed something was afoot with Red Bull, but ultimately hopes no rules were broken for the sake of sporting integrity.

‘What I can say is I remember last year in Silverstone we had our last upgrade and fortunately it was great, and we could fight with it,’ the Mercedes driver said.

‘But then we would see Red Bull every weekend or every other weekend bringing upgrades. They had, I think, at least four more upgrades from that point.

‘If we spent £300,000 on a new floor, or adapted a wing, it would have changed the outcome of the championship naturally because we would have been in better competition in the next race if you add it on.

‘So, I hope that that’s not the case. I do believe Mohammed [Ben Sulayem, FIA president] and the FIA will do what is right with whatever they find out.

‘Transparency is always very important, particularly with all the fans that tune in and travel around the world.

‘I think it’s important for all of us, plus all the people that are working, the thousands who work in the sport, I think it’s important to have transparency throughout the organisation.

‘And accountability is something that we always have to hold true too. We’ve seen in previous years of the sport where things have been dealt with in the background, I don’t think that’s the new way forward with the new way of working with Mohammed.

‘I think integrity is very important to him and as is F1 nowadays with a new management, so I think we have good people in place. I hope that we get the right governance.’

Verstappen was asked to respond to Hamilton’s comments, but the Dutchman claims he just wants to focus on racing on the track and will wait for the FIA’s decision before commenting further.

‘To be honest, I’m not really busy with these kinds of things,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘I think we have our reasons to believe that we are good and that’s what I’ve been told.

‘It’s with the FIA and I just have to focus on the driving. There’s not really much more to say on that and I guess we’ll find out on Monday.’

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