Max Verstappen has just become world champion for the second time in Suzuka, but there is a dispute over his first title. It’s about keeping to the budget limit – a decision should be made today.
In Suzuka there should actually be a break in the budget dispute, at least until Monday (October 10th, 2022), that’s what the FIA had actually thought. But on Thursday before the chaotic wet race in Japan that brought Max Verstappen his second title, Lewis Hamilton started thinking out loud about the past season.
“The others with the other car”
“I remember we needed new updates”said the record world champion from Mercedes, but that was just not possible because of the new budget limit. “But then I saw these trucks from the others, updates continued to come for the other car”continued Hamilton, “and I was like, my goodness! It’s going to be hard to beat them in the World Cup if they keep updating.”
Hamilton didn’t say it again, but “the others” With “the other car”, which of course meant Red Bull. And in the end, the others also won the world title with Max Verstappen. The update question is explosive because there was a budget cap in Formula 1 for the first time in 2021, and since last week there has been heated speculation as to whether Red Bull could have exceeded it.
Serious allegations by Toto Wolff
Media reports were the trigger. Verstappen’s racing team has sharply rejected this several times and even threatened legal action, and the world association FIA also spoke of it repeatedly “unfounded speculation and conjecture”. Actually, there should be clarity on Wednesday, but the matter apparently turned out to be more complicated: the FIA could not meet the deadline they had set themselves.
The review of the budgets of all teams is not yet complete, the results should finally be available this Monday. The competition, especially Mercedes and Ferrari, has made a noticeable effort to give the topic a lot of space since the reports came up. be it “an open secret” in the paddock that a team “solid” was over the limit, said Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff.
More money means better performance
What all teams have in common, whether large or small, is the desire for a transparent review and clear application of the new rules. There are long-term and rather short-term reasons for this: The budget limit can only make Formula 1 better in the future if disregarding the rules has painful consequences for the teams. In the first year after the introduction, a precedent is at stake. But the result on Monday is also important with a view to the past and the current season.
“I know how hard our team works to stay within budget”said Hamilton’s Mercedes colleague George Russell: “And we also know that the more money you spend, the better the performance. It’s as simple as that.” Last year Verstappen won against Hamilton by a very narrow margin, this year by a huge margin.
No clear sanctions defined
If the budget was exceeded, then all this would appear in a different light. The latest media reports from England, however, meanwhile suggest that there were at most minor exceedances.
Formula 1 is said to be smarter on Monday, but that’s also why it’s difficult: There are no clearly defined sanctions for certain levels of exceeding. From fines to point deductions, anything is possible. And point deductions could even cost Verstappen the 2021 title.