Max Verstappen won the 2021 World Drivers’ Title after a season-long battle with Lewis Hamilton as old comments from Horner resurface now.
Max Verstappen came on top in 2021 in a dramatic manner in the last race of the season. However, his team Red Bull failed to secure the constructors’ title.
Nevertheless, Verstappen’s 2021 title is now at risk as Red Bull is now at the center of a budget cap breach scandal.
FIA implemented a $145 million budget cap for the 2021 season. Teams were instructed to document all their spending throughout the 2021 season. Later, they had to submit the reports to the governing body for review after the season.
Now, the governing body has officially completed its review. FIA has found two teams guilty of breaching the new financial regulations.
Red Bull and Aston Martin were found guilty of the breaches. Red Bull was at fault for a “minor” overspending. FIA deemed Aston Martin culpable of a procedural breach. The governing body is yet to announce any punishment for the duo.
Red Bull has publicly refuted to any of these findings claiming their submission was well below the budget cap. Aston Martin is yet to give any official statement.
Horner values drivers title more
Even after a rather impressive performance from teammate Sergio Perez, Red Bull only managed to come second behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings in 2021.
Coming to the “minor” breach, one of the punishments is a deduction of championship points. The points can be of any championship – constructors or drivers’ or even both.
Going back in the past, Horner had acknowledged how winning the drivers’ title mattered more to the team:
“The constructors’ is where the money is. That is where the revenues that come into the sport are distributed. Based on your performance in the championship,”
he explained, per Autosport.
“I think every employee within our team, and probably in most of the teams, is rewarded on where they are in the constructors’ championship, as opposed to the drivers’.
“But the drivers’ obviously has the popularity and it has the prestige. I don’t think there’s a single employee within our business that would have traded the first place in the constructors’ for this Drivers’ Championship.”
Based on these comments from Horner, some fans are demanding FIA be stricter. They demand the governing body deduct the championship points of Max Verstappen potentially stripping him of the title.
Horner deemed Verstappen getting losing his 2021 title as “ridiculous“.
For more sports-related news, follow us on Twitter.
