Toto Wolff ‘reconsidering’ Japanese Grand Prix plans amid Red Bull cost cap row
Toto Wolff could abandon his plan to miss an F1 race for the first time since 2019 to confront the fallout from the cost cap row which has engulfed the sport.
Governing body the FIA is set to reveal on Wednesday if any teams have failed to comply with last season’s £114million budget. Red Bull has faced unproven allegations that they broke the financial rules as Max Verstappen controversially pipped Wolff’s driver, Lewis Hamilton, to the 2021 title.
In Singapore over the weekend, Wolff called on the FIA to take robust action against any team that overspent, with Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner hitting back at those comments and threatening to take legal action against the Mercedes boss.
READ MORE: Max Verstappen tells F1 rivals to shut it as Red Bull cost cap row escalates
The Daily Mail have today reported that Red Bull had only committed a ‘minor’ breach of potentially less than £1million, ruling out the prospect of last year’s championship result being changed.
The F1 circus now heads to Japan, where Verstappen could clinch his second world title. On Friday, Wolff said it was his intention not to travel to Suzuka, only the second time he would not have attended a race in nine years.
“There are a few individuals that can take over some of my tasks. Not physically being at the race meeting doesn’t mean that I am not at the race,” he told the Press Association.
“I have a full intercom setup. There is a race support room at the factory, and I will be part of every single debriefing. I just won’t be there physically.”
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However, it is now been reported that Wolff could be in Japan after all, depending on the result of FIA's verdict.
Whether he is at Suzuka or not, it seems the Austrian and other team personnel will occasionally skip races going forward, with the calendar set to swell to 24 races in 2023.
“I will start to skip a few races. The whole team needs to look at it,” he said. “It is not sustainable for anyone to do 24 races. The drivers have to, but we start on Monday in the office and go through until the end of the week.
“We need to find a solution, and I think the race team will skip a few races every year in order to survive.”
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