Red Bull boss Christian Horner responds after ‘rule break’ claims

Max Verstappen commits future to Red Bull signing £200m deal

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Christian Horner has denied Red Bull have breached F1’s budget cap regulations despite rumours the team were around $5million (4.5mil) over last season. It comes after reports from Auto Motor und Sport reported Red Bull and Aston Martin had gone over the threshold. 

Red Bull had stressed the reports were “just speculation at this stage” wth Aston Martin ‘in discussion with the FIA”. But, Horner denied any involvement ahead of the Singapore Grand prix, stressing the team had not broken any rules.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he explained: “I’m not aware of any. See the council submitted way back in March, so it’s been a long process with the FIA going through and we’re in that process as we speak. 

“So, you know, their rightly, following that process. And I think next week, mid next week is, you know, when they declare the certificates so, you know, I think that, certainly our submission was was below the cap, and it’s down to the FIA, obviously, to follow their process, which they’re currently doing.

“And as I said, Yep, I in a process and I think there’s always going to be rumours. I’ve heard of major breaches and whatever. I’m certainly not aware of that.” A minor breach under five percent of the cap would result in a financial penalty being issued. 

However, a larger cost could result in teams or drivers being penalised for a “material overspend”. 

This could result in teams being docked points in the drivers’ and teams’ standings in what could be a major blow to last season’s champion Max Verstappen. It is understood Mercedes and Ferrari believe the extra money could result in a performance advantage of around half a second. 

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The teams will likely push for a harsher penalty in a bid to set a precedent against further rule-breaking in the sport. The FIA have confirmed there is currently a formal process looking at team’s spends before compliance certificates are issued next week. 

Horner reiterated Red Bull were “confident” in their accounts and didn’t fear any punishments.

He added: “I mean, every team theoretically is subject to it. So they will have looked at every team’s submitted account. So you know, they’re following a process and you know that that conclusion date has been moved from I think, July to September now to October but it’s a big job. It’s a lot for them to through. We’re very confident in our submission. So you know, anything different to that, then obviously, we’ll wait to hear from the FIA.”

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