Sky Sports reporter, Ted Kravitz, does not believe we should expect to see too many shocks when the FIA deliver their certificates of compliance on Wednesday.
A report last week indicated that Red Bull and Aston Martin had overspent on last year’s $145 million cost cap, and the report also suggested that the latter might have spent as much as $155 million.
This, if correct, would put them in material breach of the financial regulations, and therefore at risk of one of the harsher punishments.
A possible consequence is exclusion from last year’s championship standings, but this is not something Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, was confident of.
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The Austrian did, however, accuse his counterparts of going significantly over the limit, and indicated that the FIA had been investigating them for months.
Red Bull refuted this, with Christian Horner calling the accusations “unacceptable” and “defamatory.”
Adviser, Dr Helmut Marko, even went as far as to subtly imply that Shaila-Ann Rao, Wolff’s former lawyer and now secretary general at the FIA, had been colluding with her previous employer.
Later on, we will hear news on whether any teams have overspent, and potentially by how much.
If any teams have gone over, the governing body will have to decide on a punishment, which will likely either be handled behind closed doors, or at a hearing.
If anyone is hoping for a huge revelation though, they might be disappointed.
“I’m hearing that maybe, when the certificates of compliance with the cost cap come out, we are not going to have too many big surprises,” Kravitz told Sky Sports.
“But, I think there will still be some areas of interpretation, and that’s what Christian Horner from Red Bull was talking about in Singapore.
“He was saying, ‘look, like any new rules, there are some areas of clarification of interpretation’ – a charge that Mercedes refuted.
“They said, ‘no I’m sorry, we’re talking the rules here, and if you spend more money, your car goes faster.
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“And if you’re only allowed to spend so much money, then that is the rule in order for your car not to go faster’
“So, let’s wait and see.”
Horner is understood to be considering legal action against those who have accused Red Bull of exceeding the budget cap.