Confusion, Crane And Now Cost Cap Risk Taking Gloss Off Max Verstappen Feat

Max Verstappen said the confusion at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix that saw him declared Formula One world champion was "quite funny", but an impending cost-cap ruling could wipe the smiles off faces in the Red Bull garage. The 25-year-old Dutchman became the second youngest double world champion on Sunday, after Sebastian Vettel, when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was given a time penalty relegating him to third place at Suzuka. The news emerged as Verstappen was giving his post-race TV interview, but even then there was uncertainty as to whether reduced championship points would be awarded because the winner had completed only 29 of 53 laps because of bad weather.

After it was confirmed that full points had been given, it left Verstappen 113 clear of his teammate Sergio Perez and 114 ahead of Leclerc, with a maximum of 112 available in the season's final four races.

"This is crazy," said Verstappen. "I didn't know that I was world champion, there was a lot of confusion, but I thought it was quite funny.

"The first championship was very emotional and this time it feels very different, it feels even more beautiful because of the season we've had."

However teams will discover later on Monday whether they complied with Formula One's 2021 cost cap, which could be bad news for Red Bull.

The governing body FIA introduced the budget limit of $145 million to make racing more competitive.

Over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend earlier this month, speculation swirled around the paddock that two of the 10 teams on the grid had breached their budget limit. Rumours were that one of them was Red Bull.

The FIA views any overspend to be a serious matter and has a range of punishments available up to a maximum penalty of expulsion from