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Three-time Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert suggests that Lewis Hamilton may be unable to accept a penalty imposed by the FIA on Red Bull if Max Verstappen ends up keeping his world title. The FIA’s investigation into potential cost cap breaches has been extended until Monday with the initial deadline set for Wednesday this week.
Red Bull and Aston Martin are speculated to be the two teams who may have breached the spending cap last season. The FIA introduced the £114million limit to make F1 more financially sustainable and give smaller teams a better chance of competing with the heavy hitters.
Team boss Christian Horner insists that Red Bull have done nothing wrong and a breach would only have been by an insignificant amount. Hamilton, however, has stated that any team found to have operated outside of the regulations should be punished accordingly after he lost a narrow title battle to Verstappen last season.
“I do get [where Lewis is coming from],” said Herbert. “We don’t know what the situation is at the present time, hopefully Monday is when we really know. But I can understand from a driver’s point of view.
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“You put your heart and soul into trying to put on the best performances you can within the cockpit, to go as fast you possibly can. Then you hear the rumours that maybe someone has overspent. Then we know if that’s the case there’s going to be an advantage from that.
“When that advantage is something you hear about and maybe know about, it makes it harder to accept certain situations that have happened in the past or present time. I understand what his thinking is, but we’re not accountants and we don’t know what the whole issue is and we have to wait and see.”
An overspend from Red Bull would put another black mark against Verstappen’s maiden world title, which was already tainted by the controversial finale in Abu Dhabi that saw FIA race director Michael Masi sacked. With the Drivers’ Championship on the line, Hamilton was effectively left a sitting duck when the safety car was called back into the pits with one lap remaining and the Dutchman took his chance in thrilling but contentious fashion.
There is little to argue about Verstappen’s imminent second title, however, as Red Bull have put together a dominant season to see off competition from Ferrari and Mercedes. But Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff still took an opportunity to fire shots at his rival in Singapore last weekend when Horner insisted that his team’s finances were above board.
“It’s funny that Christian says that, because it’s been weeks and months they’re being investigated, so maybe he doesn’t speak to his CFO,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “As a matter of fact, all of us have been investigated diligently.
“As far as we understand, there’s a team in minor breach which is more procedural, and another team that is fundamentally, massively over and that is being still looked at. So that’s an open secret in the paddock.”
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