Crimson Bull crew principal Christian Horner says he’s “completely assured” his crew didn’t breach System 1’s funds cap in 2021.
Ferrari and Mercedes say it’s an “open secret” that two groups breached the restrict to at least one diploma or one other, and it’s broadly claimed within the paddock inside F1 that they’re Crimson Bull and Aston Martin.
Horner stated: “We stand 100% behind the submission that we’re beneath the cap.”
He stated feedback by his rivals have been “unacceptable” and “vastly defamatory”, and he threatened to take additional motion in response.
Aston Martin say they’re “in dialogue with the FIA and awaiting certification”.
Ferrari didn’t title Crimson Bull of their public feedback on Friday.
Mercedes crew boss Toto Wolff, in response to Horner’s declare that he had “no information” of any breaches by Crimson Bull, instructed Sky Sports activities: “It is humorous Christian says that as a result of it has been weeks and months they’re being investigated, so possibly he does not converse to his CFO [chief financial officer].”
Horner accused each rivals of using “an underhand tactic” to distract from the truth that Crimson Bull driver Max Verstappen might clinch his second world title at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Horner stated the method of governing physique the FIA assessing Crimson Bull’s accounts was “ongoing” and that the crew have been “slightly bit stunned” by the feedback.
Mercedes and Ferrari each stated they believed one crew had damaged the cap by a big quantity and the opposite by a smaller one. The F1 monetary rules outline a minor breach as one lower than 5% of the cap, which was $145m (£114m) in 2021, and a cloth one as greater than that.
The FIA has instructed groups it should problem certificates of compliance or in any other case on 5 October.
Mercedes crew principal Toto Wolff stated: “So far as we perceive, there is a crew in minor breach, which is extra procedural, and one other crew that’s essentially massively over and that’s that’s being nonetheless sorted. In order that’s an open secret within the paddock.”
Horner stated: “The information are that it’s a personal submission to the FIA.
“So how on earth can any crew know the element of our submission? How can any crew know a crew is in breach or not? We do not even know if we’re in breach. We do not know till subsequent week, till the method has been accomplished.
“So maybe when these accusations are made, folks in glass homes should not throw stones and you already know we take umbrage and intensely severely the remarks which were made.”
He added: “Until there’s a clear withdrawal of those feedback, we will probably be taking it extremely severely and taking a look at what the choices are.”
Mercedes and Ferrari rejected Horner’s request to withdraw their remarks.
Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies echoed Wolff’s remarks on Friday in saying it was”no secret” two groups had breached the cap.
Mekies added in a information convention on Saturday that any breach of the cap final 12 months would additionally have an effect on efficiency in 2022 and 2023.
“If there was a breach in 2021, what benefit is being carried into 2022 and 2023?” Mekies stated. “After, you’ll be able to talk about the penalty and the way do you make it significant.
“We’re banging on about transparency and severity as a result of if it seems to be one thing a crew can guess on to achieve a aggressive benefit, the entire system collapses. The primary time the funds cap is challenged, you want a certain quantity of severity.
“It is a easy calculation, we take it very severely as a result of it is a severe quantity of lap time – $7m would provide you with 70 engineers, 70 engineers would provide you with a severe quantity of lap time.
“If you concentrate on the ability of the monetary rules, it most likely overpowers the sporting and technical rules, so because of this we’re trying ahead to a clear and extreme method.”
He added: “It’s a very very important take a look at for the associated fee cap. And if we do not cross that take a look at then it is most likely sport over, as a result of the implications are enormous.”
Sanctions for a minor breach can embody a deduction of factors for the championship wherein the breach happened, a suspension from a restricted variety of occasions, limitations on analysis and growth and a discount of the associated fee cap for the crew in query.
For a cloth breach, the potential of banning a crew or driver from a whole championship is included.
The cap was launched in 2021 as a part of a sequence of rule modifications geared toward closing up the sphere and making the game extra aggressive.
McLaren crew principal Andreas Seidl stated: “The monetary rules are as necessary as technical and sporting ones, and it is crucial the FIA police then correctly and implement them with the right penalties in place even when it impacts championships outcomes from the previous.”
He added: “It’s the solely approach to be in F1 in a sustainable means.”
Alfa Romeo crew boss Frederic Vasseur stated: “We won’t jeopardise the funds cap. [If it collapses], it is not the tip of F1, however virtually, and we now have to take motion.”
Horner additionally accused Williams of “forgetting” to make their submission, which Williams chief government officer Jost Capito, sitting beside him in a information convention, stated was “not true”.
Williams have been fined $25,000 in June for a “procedural breach” of the monetary guidelines. Capito stated it was attributable to an auditing delay of one of many crew’s associated corporations, the FIA was forewarned, it was handled inside the week and was “nothing to do immediately with the crew”.