Horner threatens legal action as budget cap row overshadows Leclerc pole

Charles Leclerc took pole for the Singapore Grand Prix but a furious Max Verstappen saw his hopes of sealing his second title shattered as he managed only eighth on the grid.

Their drama in qualifying was completely overshadowed, however, as the row over potential breaches of the Formula One budget cap in 2021 escalated, with Lewis Hamilton insisting the FIA apply the rules rigorously on what he described as an issue that had to be taken seriously.

Leclerc delivered a fine lap to secure pole on a drying track after rain under the lights of Marina Bay, beating the Red Bull of Sergio Pérez into second, while Hamilton delivered a superb third for Mercedes.

With the track still damp, treacherous and tricky to manage, the leaders took slick tyres for the first time only in Q3. Hamilton, who had to face the stewards for wearing his nose stud during qualifying but was later exonerated having been advised to do so by a doctor to prevent an infection, had been quick throughout the session set the pace on the first hot runs, with a time of 1 minute 53.082seconds.

The cars stayed on track as the track dried, which proved a pivotal decision for Verstappen. Leclerc led the way on the final runs and Hamilton, pushing hard, could not match him but Verstappen, as the last man racing, was on a lap challenging for pole only to be told to pit.

The Dutchman was furious and berated his team over the car radio but they were concerned he would not have enough fuel to provide the mandatory sample to the FIA. A failure to do so would have resulted in him starting at the back of the grid. He can still secure the title on Sunday but it will be some ask from eighth.

The main focus in Singapore was firmly off track, however. Earlier it emerged the FIA was investigating the budgets of two teams, believed to be Red Bull and Aston Martin, with Mercedes principal Toto Wolff describing their alleged overspending last year as an “open secret” in the paddock.

The public dispute continued on Saturday yesterday with the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, threatening legal action against Mercedes and accusing Wolff of “hugely defamatory, fictitious claims”.

After qualifying, Hamilton, who could have last season’s title retroactively awarded to him should the FIA find against Red Bull and choose extreme sanctions, pointedly called on the FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem to strictly enforce its rules.

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“I have full confidence in Mohammed, in the way he has conducted himself to this point in terms of being strict and being clear with the rules,” Hamilton said. “The rules are the rules and those sorts of things can lead to real alterations in terms of our performance, we definitely have to take it seriously.”

Wolff backed his driver in demanding the sport impose sufficient punishment if the rules have been breached. “All the stakeholders in this sport, all the teams that have complied to the regulations, the FIA, F1, need to make sure that these regulations have teeth,” he said.

This is a crucial moment for the FIA, Ben Sulaymen’s leadership and F1. When the budget cap was imposed it was intended to be the first step in creating a level playing field in the sport, allowing the smaller team to begin the process of closing toward the big three. If the process is demonstrated to be easily worked around or insufficiently vigorously policed, it will be seen as having failed and the FIA being toothless against the interests of some of the teams it is supposed to police.

That said, any breach has yet to be confirmed and the FIA will not comment while it makes its assessment with the conclusions on the teams’ cost submissions expected on Wednesday. The governing body has a range of sanctions it could apply, including fines and race bans, right up to points deductions and potentially excluding a team from a championship, either of which could alter the outcome of last season’s title race, which was won by Verstappen.

The FIA defines two types of breach, “minor” below 5% of the cost cap and a “material” infringement, above 5%, for which the serious penalties could be imposed.

In a tense press conference at the Marina Bay circuit, Horner was bullish in defending his team and accusing his rivals of wanting to detract from Verstappen, who holds a 116-point lead, potentially taking his second title in Singapore. He insisted he believes his team were within the budget cap set at $145m last year and adamant he would be willing to take action against the comments from rival teams.

“The FIA has stated that they have not completed their process, so unless there is a clear withdrawal of those statements, we will be taking it extremely seriously,” he said. “We will look at all the options available to us because it is absolutely unacceptable to be making the comments that were made yesterday which are totally defamatory to the team, to the brands, and to Formula One.”

Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari. Fernando Alonso fifth for Alpine, Lando Norris sixth for McLaren. Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda were in seventh and tenth. Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas. George Russell was 11th for Mercedes, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel in 12th and 14th for Aston Martin, Mick Schumacher 13th for Haas and Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas 15th and 16th for Alfa Romeo. Daniel Ricciardo was 17th for McLaren, Esteban Ocon 18th for Alpine and Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi in 19th and 20th for Williams.