George Russell and Charles Leclerc demanded punishment for any teams found guilty of breaking Formula 1 cost cap rules – but both stopped short of calling for points deductions.
The FIA was due to reveal on Wednesday whether or not the 10 teams had complied with budget restrictions in the 2021 season. But the announcement was delayed until next week, which only served to further fuel rumours that at least one of the teams overspent.
Red Bull are the ones who are at the centre of that speculation, though Christian Horner said last weekend he was "absolutely confident" the team came in under budget. Aston Martin, the other team named in a supposed leak, also said they don't believe they have done "anything majorly wrong".
It has been suggested that any team that went over budget last season could be docked points retroactively. That could potentially change the outcome of the drivers' title race, if Max Verstappen were punished for any breach Red Bull are deemed to have made.
Giving his thoughts on the matter, Russell stopped short of suggesting his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton should be handed the 2021 title. "It's not my duty to dive into those details and I'll just sit and wait and see what the results are on Monday," he told reporters ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
"But I just know from our experience within Mercedes, how hard the whole team have worked to stay within that cost cap – we know we can bring more performance to the table if we had more money to spend, and it's as simple as that. I trust in Mohammed [ben Sulayem] and the FIA to bring an appropriate punishment for anyone who's found guilty of the charges accused.
"It should be quite straightforward and you'd expect that the amount that's gone over should be the amount that's taken off for next year's budget, and probably a bit more on top of that, as a punishment. But let's wait and see."
Ferrari driver Leclerc also called for any team in breach to be held accountable, but was more vague about what he feels the consequences should be. "If there's any team found guilty of that, they should be punished – I'm not the one to decide, but for sure it should be punished," he said.
Also speaking to reporters at Suzuka, Hamilton suggested that even a minor breach on Red Bull's part might have changed the course of the championship. "What I can say is last year in Silverstone we had our last upgrade and fortunately it was great and we could fight with it. But then we would see Red Bull every weekend, or every other weekend, bringing upgrades," said the Brit.
"They had I think at least four more upgrades from that point. If we had spent £300,000 on a new floor or adapted wing it would have changed the outcome of the championship naturally. We would have been in better competition at the next race. I hope that's not the case."
