"Red Bull trying to 'divert attention' from cost cap breach by asking 'who leaked' questions, says Mercedes boss
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has swatted away allegations from Red Bull over who leaked the confidential cost cap information.
Before the official report from the FIA was released after the Japanese GP, multiple publications reported about the cost cap breach from Red Bull and Aston Martin. That did not amuse Red Bull boss Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko, who wondered who leaked the information.
🎙️| Mattia Binotto:
"Red Bull was the only team that exceeded the budget cap. They were 2 million over, so about 2 tenths/lap. This could have changed the result of the championship."
"With the penalty, they can spend the wind tunnel money elsewhere..."
Talking to Motorsport-Total.com, Wolff dismissed suggestions over how the alleged leak took place. Wolff termed it as nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the breach, saying:
"The leak did not come from the FIA, but there are ten finance directors who sit together all year and find out who did what. There was a violation; it doesn’t really matter how it came about. Violation is violation. Who talked about it? I think it was the finance directors. It is also a total sideshow. It is an attempt by Red Bull to divert attention."
Red Bull have been given a $7m fine and 10% reduction in wind tunnel time for 2023 because of their budget cap breach.
The percentage wind tunnel time for the top 3 teams for the 2023 is:
Mercedes: 80%
Ferrari: 75%
Red Bull: 63% (70% before penalty)
Thoughts?
Talking to Sky Deutschland after Friday’s announcement, Helmut Marko had questioned how the confidential information came out before the FIA announcing it. He said:
“It cannot be that two teams with detailed knowledge went public before we were informed. The FIA says they don’t know how this came out, but it’s weird that certain things from an ongoing process are being exposed. That’s defamatory. I just find it amazing that something like this gets public.”
Sum of penalties is a deterrent - Mercedes
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said that he's happy with the punishment given to Red Bull for the cost cap breach, terming it as a deterrent. Talking to motorsport, the Mercedes boss said:
"I think that the sum of the penalties is a deterrent, the sporting penalty, and to a lesser degree, the financial fine. But reputational damage that is happening is probably the biggest thing, and no team will want to come anywhere near that, because obviously, we are living in a transparent and compliant world. Our shareholders or our partners demand compliance, and in that respect, that's just not on anymore."
He added:
"What I take as a positive is the strong governance. Nothing was brushed under the carpet. The FIA stood by the process. And I think that although the administration has only been in place for 10 months, it's very encouraging to see things executed."
It will be interesting if Red Bull's penalty would impact two-time champion Max Verstappen's campaign next season. The Dutchman won a record 14th race of the season at the Mexican GP on Sunday, while Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton finished second.