“I stand by” Red Bull “cheating” claim - Horner’s defence “didn’t make sense”

Red Bull were found guilty of overspending the 2021 limit, and Max Verstappen won the 2022 F1 championship amid this scandal.

As Red Bull’s punishment was pondered, Brown wrote to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali - he has now refused to apologise despite criticism from Christian Horner.

“I stand by my letter,” said Brown. “When you break the rules, whether it's technical and financial, there are many different ways to characterise it.

“I know [that ‘cheating’] is such a strong word, but I don't see any difference between breaking the financial cap versus having too low of a ride height, or whatever the case may be.

“If it's something within the sporting, financial, or technical regulations, a breach of the rules, I guess you could call it a couple of different things. Some people in a more simplistic manner would call it that.”

Red Bull reportedly overspent on free lunch for their staff, among other things, before Horner criticised his rival team principals for demanding a harsh punishment in an awkward press conference as he opposite Brown.

“I thought there were things that didn't make sense,” Brown said about Horner’s defence.

“We all have to take care of our employees. We have our employees coming to us saying this team does this, this team does this on per diems, this team does this on food, this team does this on hotels. That then puts you in a competitive position when you are hiring and retaining.

“So I think to kind of single out 'this is where we spend more money’ then you're spending less money somewhere else.

“I think it all goes into performance. I don't think you can kind of have isolated selected elements and say it was this part that was out of the cap.”