Christian Horner is angry. Really mad. His appearance at the FIA press conference on Saturday in Singapore represented a new level of escalation in the dispute with Toto Wolff, which had been smoldering for years. will probably never be friends again in this life. And Netflix will enjoy it.
Now the affair is getting personal. When a journalist (Andrew Benson from the BBC) wanted to know from Horner why he was actually so angry, when neither Mercedes nor Ferrari had specifically assumed that Red Bull would violate the 2021 budget limit, the Red Bull team boss bursts at the collar .
“Wait a minute, Andrew. I think they were actually very clear about naming Red Bull,” contradicts Horner. He means: When Wolff was asked on Friday whether he knew about violations because Horner claimed he didn’t know anything, Wolff replied: “It’s funny that Christian says that, because they’ve been investigated for weeks and months. Maybe he doesn’t talk with his CFO (Chief Financial Officer; editor’s note).”
Horner had initially tried to keep the topic small in interviews on Friday and had been defensive. After Wolff poured oil on the fire in the “Sky” interview on Friday, the fuse at Red Bull was dramatically shortened. Both Horner and motorsport consultant Helmut Marko now launched a counterattack.
Conspiracy smell about Wolff’s ex-adviser
“It’s a massive damage to reputation. Abu Dhabi is long gone. It’s a bit strange that you still haven’t gotten over it,” teases Marko in an interview with “ORF”. And he questions: “It is more than surprising how Toto Wolff came up with these numbers. He speaks of a massive overrun. There must be impermeability somewhere at the FIA.”
“Sky” expert Ralf Schumacher puts what Marko might be suggesting: “We all know that a close confidante and former employee of Toto Wolff is now working in a very high position at the FIA.” And he means Shaila-Ann Rao, who has succeeded Peter Bayer as General Secretary for Motorsport at the FIA since June.
From December 2018 until her move to the FIA, Rao was not only the chief legal officer of the Mercedes team, but also explicitly personal advisor to Toto Wolff from January 2021. It is in the nature of things that this is viewed with suspicion in the paddock. Only: So far nobody has been able to prove that Rao violated any compliance regulations.
Where the story first appeared
To suggest that Wolff must have secret sources in order to be able to make such allegations in Singapore on September 30 is also surprising in that the story was published by “auto motor und sport” a little earlier on the same day and behind the scenes at the latest since Monza has been paddock whispers in well-informed circles.
So what is behind the accusation: the suspicion that Wolff or employees of the Mercedes team placed the story in “auto motor und sport” in order to damage Red Bull’s reputation. Horner: “Is it really a coincidence that we are only talking about budget caps instead of Max’s phenomenal performance on the weekend when he can become world champion for the first time?”
He is annoyed: “I wonder what the source of information is for these fictitious claims that you have made. The FIA even said that the test is not over yet. If these claims are not withdrawn, we will take them incredibly serious and weighing up what our options are, because such statements are absolutely unacceptable.”
After Horner’s threat: Wolff rowed back
Although Horner does not use the word “legal” in his threat, he does not explicitly threaten Mercedes with legal action for damage to their reputation; but his counterattack seems to have been right – although Wolff, at least he claims, did not see Horner’s press conference himself. Because now the Mercedes team boss is rowing back.
When asked by ‘Sky’ whether it wouldn’t have been fair to wait for the FIA’s verdict before discrediting Red Bull, Wolff replied that what he said was “completely irrelevant” in the broader context, because the bottom line is that “only what is in the certificates on Wednesday plays a role. Whether there was a bit of a fuss about it is a background noise.”
Referring to Horner’s outraged appearance at the press conference, he says: “That has always been the strategy: attack is the best form of defence! You lash out wildly. On Wednesday there is a Certificate of Compliance, which says whether you cross the border complied with or broke them. Then you can say whatever you want into the camera.”
The rumor that is floating around is that Red Bull is dealing with a “material”, i.e. a significant violation of the budget cap. If true, it would be in the order of at least $7 million, which Red Bull is believed to have spent more than other teams.
What can you do with seven million more?
That would be a substantial amount, because the 145 million upper limit that was set for 2021 includes far more than just development costs. Maintaining the company building, energy costs, staff – all of this eats up the vast majority of the budget. In the end, only a fraction of the total budget is left for the development of new parts.
Frederic Vasseur calculates: “At Alfa Romeo we have a development budget of 2.4 million for the entire season.” So three times that is “a mega amount”. Or, as Ferrari’s Laurent Mekies explains: “With seven million I can pay 70 engineers, and 70 engineers bring a lot of lap times.”
Wolff: Still overweight because of the budget limit
Wolff adds from a Mercedes point of view: “We know very well that we can spend three and a half million a year on parts that we then bring to the car. That shows what an enormous difference it would make to have just half a million more. Every more spend you can make gives you an edge in performance.”
Example: “We didn’t produce lightweight parts to get us down from being double-digit overweight. Because we just don’t have the money. So we had to postpone that to next year’s car. To introduce and homologate a lightweight chassis would cost two million – two million, that we would lie over the lid.”
Ferrari: Financial rules more important than any other rules
However, the potential penalty, should a breach actually occur, is a hot potato that nobody really dares to touch. In theory, the regulations even allow Verstappen to retrospectively withdraw the 2021 World Championship title, because not only constructor points but also driver points can be deleted.
There is agreement that the FIA must draconically punish willful violations of the budget cap. Vasseur says, for example: “Two years ago, they disqualified us because of 0.9 millimeters. At Mercedes, the rear wing was imprecise by one millimeter last year in Sao Paulo. You have to put that in perspective.”
“The financial rules are probably more powerful than the technical and sporting rules combined,” Mekies raised his index finger. “You just have to think about the lap times that can be gained with the sums that are in the room.”
Should Verstappen’s world title be revoked, Mr. Wolff?
So should Verstappen’s world title be subsequently revoked, Mr. Wolff? The Mercedes team boss evades: “I don’t want to be in the shoes of the judges. The drivers drive their hearts out to win, and then the team makes decisions that they don’t know anything about.” But: “In the end you’re still sitting in a car that’s pumped full of steroids.”
It is the question that hardly anyone dares to ask: How much would Verstappen’s world title in Abu Dhabi, already overshadowed by a non-compliant safety car procedure by race director Michael Masi, be worth if it can now also be proven that more development money went into his car than Lewis Hamilton’s?
From Red Bull’s point of view, the fact that it’s even being talked about is enough damage to their reputation, and it’s clear from Red Bull’s point of view that Wolff, the long-time “enemy of the house”, got the ball rolling. Marko says on “ORF”: “This now goes beyond the usual political denigration. These are concrete and serious allegations.”
What is it about? First details are leaking out!
After all, it is slowly leaking out why the FIA apparently has more questions than other teams when examining the Red Bull budget for 2021. “We have different companies that don’t work like Formula 1. Some people have been transferred, and from our point of view these costs cannot be included,” Marko indicates.
In other words: In the Red Bull universe in Formula 1 there is not only Red Bull Racing (RBR), but also Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT). RBAT does not only work on the Formula 1 project, but the company’s employees develop yachts for the America’s Cup, bicycles and their own Red Bull hypercar on behalf of customers, to name just a few examples.
Creating such a technology offshoot is not a revolutionary new idea. Williams was the first team to take the Advanced Technology line, back then under CEO Adam Parr. The big advantage today: Whenever a team needs more employees, it can easily request them from the sister company.
At the same time, salaries do not have to be paid when these employees are not needed; but then they can work on other projects in peace. Marko is convinced that Red Bull submitted these transactions correctly: “In our opinion, we are under it. If you interpret that to our disadvantage, then we would be marginally over it.”