Max set for a second title ...but will he lose his first?

FORMULA ONE’S travelling circus came to Singapore wondering if Max Verstappen could claim his second world title, only to be questioning how he won his first.

Reports surfaced in Europe’s press yesterday that Red Bull overspent in their quest to carry Verstappen past Lewis Hamilton to last year’s controversial title.

The budget cap was introduced in 2021 at £114million, once the $145m limit was converted at a set rate, to help level the playing field. Other teams were yesterday privately briefing that Red Bull have punctured the ceiling by some £10million. They deny this. The FIA are still auditing the figures for all 10 teams and are due to issue their conclusion on Wednesday.

If guilty of a minor breach — for spending less than a five per cent excess — Red Bull could face punishments ranging from a reprimand to losing points retrospectively from last year’s championship, which means Hamilton may yet be crowned world champion. If they have overspent by more than five per cent, they could be excluded from the world championship. While Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, called on the FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem to show the ‘same integrity and leadership he has shown’ in a clear hint Red Bull should be sanctioned fearlessly if found guilty, his opposite number Christian Horner dismissed the claims as ‘purely speculation’.

Horner added: ‘We are certainly not aware of any breaches. The accounts were all submitted to the FIA way back in March, so it’s been a long process with the FIA and we are in that process as we speak. We are confident in our submission. There are always going to be rumours. I’ve heard of major breaches, but I’m certainly not aware of that.’ Wolff responded: ‘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 chief financial officer. ‘All of us have been investigated diligently. As far as we understand, there’s a team in minor breach and another team that is fundamentally, massively over and that is being still looked at. That’s an open secret in the paddock.’ Aston Martin are the other team allegedly in breach.

Red Bull, it is understood, will argue that when they submitted their accounts to the FIA they were more than £3m below the limit and that the goalposts have been moved — and that it is a case of what to count in the permitted spend, and what not to.

Caught in the middle of this mess is Verstappen (left), 25 yesterday, and hunting for what he thought would not only be a processional second title but a controversy-free one.

He leads by 116 points from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and has an outside chance of wrapping up the championship here with five rounds remaining.