F1 LIVE: Budget cap verdict delayed as Red Bull wait anxiously

The FIA have delayed announcing their findings on the 2021 F1 cost cap until Monday.

News was expected today regarding the verdict, with Red Bull and Aston Martin reported to have been in breach of last year’s $145m (£115m) budget.

However, as the clock ticked past midnight in Japan - where drivers and teams are gearing up for the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend - the governing body confirmed they have pushed back the announcement to Monday, describing the process as “long and complex.”

News was expected today regarding the cost cap findings but the FIA have set a new date of Monday

As much as last year’s unparalleled spectacle in an F1 season for the ages was characterised by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s fierce battles on track, accusations and rebuttals in the paddock from the bosses at centre-stage made for narratives equally as engrossing as the action on the road.

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff were at each other’s throats essentially from Silverstone last July all the way to Abu Dhabi and the controversy that concluded the 2021 melodrama. War of words, bordering on trash talk, epitomised the high-stake nature of what was at play as Red Bull hunted down the Mercedes juggernaut. The impact, in reality, was felt by Michael Masi’s fumbled judgement, which swung the title Verstappen’s way and, if nothing else, had bosses at Netflix salivating at the mouth.

This year, by contrast and amid Red Bull’s domination and Mercedes’ shortcomings, has been tame and timid. Until Singapore this past weekend, that is. Before Friday’s practice sessions at Marina Bay, murmurs of cost-cap breaches quickly spread around the paddock, with two teams rumoured to have fallen foul of F1’s inaugural year of financial measures in 2021: Red Bull and Aston Martin.

Wolff, notably downbeat this year given Mercedes’ race-by-race failings, did not need a second invitation. Like a predator waiting in the shadows, the Mercedes CEO came out firing: “It’s been weeks and months they’re [Red Bull] being investigated, so maybe he [Horner] doesn’t speak to his CFO.”

Wolff went on to emphasise how exceeding the $145m (£114m) budget for 2021 would have a subsequent impact and advantage for this year and beyond. The latest development on Monday suggests Wolff could U-turn on initial plans not to travel to Japan, with the fallout expected to engulf the pit lane in Suzuka later this week with the FIA set to reveal on Wednesday if any teams have failed to comply.

Upon hearing Wolff’s statements – and similar quotes from Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto – a seething Horner came out swinging: “The (comments from other teams) are hugely defamatory and we take umbrage to them. One can only assume it’s not coincidental that this is at a point where Max has his first strike at the world championship.”

“The analysis of financial submissions is a long and complex process that is ongoing and will be concluded to enable the release of the Certificates on Monday, 10 October.

“As previously communicated, there has been significant and unsubstantiated speculation and conjecture in relation to this matter, and the FIA reiterates that until it is finalised, no further information will be provided.

“The FIA also reiterates that any suggestion that FIA personnel have disclosed sensitive information is equally baseless.”

News was expected today regarding the cost cap findings but the FIA have set a new date of Monday

The FIA says: “The analysis of financial submissions is a long and complex process that is ongoing and will be concluded to enable the release of the Certificates on Monday, 10 October.”

Formula 1 managing director and ex-Ferrari boss Ross Brawn warned back in 2019 - at the official launch of the sport’s new financial model and cost-cap plans - that teams who “breached financial regulations will be losing their championship.”

Three years ago, at a press conference in Texas, Brawn said: ‘Financial regulations are the dramatic change in F1.

“We’ve tried for these in the past, and we’ve not been successful. I think the crucial thing about the financial regulations now is that they are part of the FIA regulations.

“So the sanctions for breaching financial regulations will be sporting penalties of some sort, depending on the severity of the breach.

“Whereas before we had the resource restriction, which was a gentlemen’s agreement between teams – well there’s not many gentlemen in the paddock I’m afraid, and that was a failure.

“But this has teeth. If you fraudulently breach the financial regulations, you will be losing your championship. So it has serious consequences if teams breach these regulations.”

The 2021 season saw a controversial end with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s snatching the world championship from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the last few laps. Wolff’s comments has signalled to Schumacher that the team boss is not over the outcome of the season.

“No matter what comes out: for me, Toto Wolff, with his harsh criticism, is rather the sore loser who has not yet digested the fact that he lost the 2021 World Championship,” Schumacher told Sky Germany. “I think that’s a shame. What is clear, however, is that the cost cap must be adhered to. If that wasn’t the case, then of course there must be a penalty.

A reminder of what’s at play here:

Formula 1 installed the sport’s first-ever budget cap in 2021, set at $145m (£114m).

Minor breach = overspend of less than 5%. Penalties could be:

- Deduction of Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship points

- Suspension form one of more stages of a competition

- Limitations on ability to conduct aerodynamic or other testing

- Reduction of the cost cap

Major breach - overspend of more than 5%. Penalties could be:

- Deduction of Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship points

- Suspension form one of more stages of a competition

- Suspension from an entire competition

- Exclusion from the Championship

- Reduction of the Cost Cap

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won last year’s World Championship by eight points to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

“It is a very vital test for the cost cap,” Mekies said in Singapore. “And, as we said, if we don’t pass that test, it’s probably game over, because the implications are huge.

“Should we talk about penalties now? Probably not. I know it’s probably what the people in the grandstands want to see and we respect that. But in fact we are much earlier in the process than that.

“Probably an even more key aspect of it is, is there a breach? Do we agree on the entity of the breach and that, as a result, confirm the rule everybody is obeying?

“So, I think what is very much crucial now is that the FIA fully enforce rules as they are written now. And then after the penalties are a different matter.”

“And this process is still going on. So we don’t really know what will be the result. There is a discussion going on. We have questions about interpretation, they have questions about interpretation.

“And we were surprised to read our name in this thing. So, let’s see. We don’t think that we have done anything majorly wrong.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is considering an unscheduled trip to Japan this weekend to confront the fallout from the much-anticipated cost cap row that is consuming Formula One.

The FIA is set to reveal on Wednesday if any teams have failed to comply with last season’s £114million budget.

Wolff has called on the FIA to take robust action against any team that overspent. Christian Horner said he is confident Red Bull are not in breach and accused Wolff of “hugely defamatory, fictitious claims”. The Red Bull team principal also threatened legal proceedings against Mercedes during a toxic weekend in Singapore.

The F1 circus now heads to Japan – a destination where Verstappen will take his second consecutive title with four rounds to spare if he wins and sets the fastest lap. In an interview with the PA news agency on Friday night, Wolff said it was his intention not to travel to Suzuka – missing his first race since 2019 and only his second in nine years amid the sport’s demanding schedule. But it is understood the Austrian, 50, could change his travel plans, depending on the FIA’s verdict.

The FIA is set to reveal on Wednesday if any teams have failed to comply with last season’s £114million budget