Horner threatens legal action as row over F1 budget cap claims escalates

The Red Bull principal Christian Horner has accused rival Toto Wolff of “hugely defamatory, fictitious claims” and threatened legal action against Mercedes amid the cheat row overshadowing this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

In a fiery, and tense press conference on Saturday, Horner insisted he is “absolutely confident” Red Bull did not overspend as Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to last year’s controversial championship. Horner also suggested the accusations that Red Bull broke F1’s budget cap have been planted to take the spotlight away from Verstappen, who could claim his second title in as many seasons on Sunday.

On Friday, Wolff demanded Formula One’s governing FIA takes robust action if Red Bull have broken the rules. Ferrari have also complained publicly. Responding, Horner said: “We were a little bit taken aback by the comments from our two rival teams. The submissions between the team and the FIA is confidential, and I have no idea what the outcome of our rivals’ submission is so I would be intrigued to know where their source of information for these fictitious claims has come from.

“They are hugely defamatory, and one can only assume that it is not a coincidence that this comes at a point where Max has his first strike at a world championship. We are here talking about cost caps rather than the phenomenal performance Max has had this year. It is an under-hand tactic employed to detract from perhaps a lack of performance on track from our rivals.

“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. We will look at all the options available to us because it is absolutely unacceptable to be making