Horner admits there are grey areas
Red Bull clearly believe their rivals are stirring up trouble for them at a sensitive moment in the season, with the Dutch driver on the verge of a second successive drivers’ title. Red Bull’s team principal, Horner, speaking after first practice on Friday, insisted the submission put in back in March was “below the cap”, although he did concede that there were clearly grey areas. “It is a brand new set of very complicated regulations, so how rules are interpreted and applied inevitably are going to be subjective between the teams and as the years go by things will get tidied up,” he said. “But we are confident in our submission. There are always going to be rumours – I’ve heard of major breaches but I’m certainly not aware of that.”
Wolff expressed his surprise at that claim, and denied that this was just “the usual playground politics”.
“It’s heavyweight, it’s massively heavyweight,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “We are using ‘used’ parts. We are not running what we would want to run. And we are not developing what we could be developing. We have made more than 40 people redundant that are dearly missed in our organisations.
“It was a huge, mammoth project to make the cap. I don’t know how many tens of millions we had to restructure processes in order to be below the cap, and if someone has been not doing that or pushing the boundaries, every million [over the cap spent] is a massive disadvantage [for us].
“I find it funny that Christian says [Red Bull are below the cap] because it’s been weeks and months they are being investigated, so maybe he doesn’t speak to his CFO.”
Wolff added that it would be “massively” difficult to catch up to a team who broke the cost cap, given the extra benefit they would have gained, and called on the FIA to be “robust” in its application of the rules. “The crucial part is that if you’ve been over in 2021, then you’ve been over in ‘22. That means you have an advantage into ‘23,” the Austrian said. “The FIA, particularly Mohammed [Ben Sulayem, FIA president], have shown a pretty robust stance on enforcing all kinds of regulations.
“So, I think if we’re talking now about something big, he will show the same integrity and leadership that he’s done before.”
Hamilton, then Ferrari, lead practice
Out on track, Carlos Sainz led Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two in an apparently unrepresentative second practice session after Hamilton topped the timesheets in first practice.
Verstappen, who was celebrating his 25th birthday on Friday, had a frustrating day disrupted by technical issues. He managed only seven laps in FP2, finishing fourth quickest between the two Mercedes.
The Dutchman could wrap up the title as early as Sunday if he wins the race and Leclerc and Sergio Pérez finish down the field.
