Horner says Red Bull cheating accusations are 'shocking'

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Red Bull team boss Christian Horner denied his championship-winning team gained any competitive advantage by what has been deemed a “minor” breach of Formula One's spending rules, and called suggestions that it amounted to cheating “shocking.”

Red Bull has been dogged by questions at the United States Grand Prix about driver Max Verstappen's championships last season and this year after F1's governing body revealed the team had a “minor” violation of the 2021 spending cap.

But that could still amount to several million dollars and some teams and drivers have demanded harsh penalties to punish Red Bull and protect the integrity of the sport.

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown wrote a letter to the FIA that didn't specifically name Red Bull, but said any overspending should be considered “cheating.”

Horner and Brown sat next to each other for F1's weekend news conference, and Horner angrily complained that Red Bull had been put “on trial” even though few details of the spending violations have been released.

“Suddenly we are tried and subjected to three weeks of effective abuse. And then to be seeing a letter accusing us of cheating and being fraudulent, it is just not right, and this has to stop," Horner said.

“It is tremendously disappointing for a fellow competitor to be accusing you of cheating, to accuse you of fraudulent activity is shocking,” Horner said.

Horner even said that allegations of cheating have led to the children of Red Bull employees being bullied at school.

Brown defended his letter, which said overspending teams should be hit financially and face future car development restrictions.

"My letter set out that if a team spent more than the cap, they’re going to gain an advantage,”