Lewis Hamilton wants Red Bull to be held "accountable" by the FIA if they are found to have breached Formula 1 cost cap rules last season.
Red Bull have denied that they went over budget in the 2021 season, but rumours continue to swirl the paddock. The FIA was due to release its findings on Wednesday after all 10 teams made their financial submissions earlier this year, but have now pushed back the news until next week.
That delay has only further fuelled rumours that there may be at least one team which did not comply with cost cap rules last season. Any team found in breach may be fined and could be retrospectively docked points – potentially changing the outcome of the title race.
That means Hamilton could become an eight-time world champion after all, if Red Bull were so punished if they are deemed to have spent too much in helping Max Verstappen to beat him to the drivers' title. In any case, the Brit just wants the truth to be made known.
"I do believe that Mohammed [ben Sulayem] and the FIA would do what is right with whatever they find out. That's what we have to have faith in," the Mercedes star told Sky Sports ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. "I think transparency is very important, particularly with all the fans that tune in and travel around the world and the thousands of people working [in F1]. It's important to have transparency throughout the organisation.
"Accountability is something we always have to hold true to. We've seen in previous years of the sport, things have been dealt with in the background. I don't think that's the way forward with the new way of working with Mohammed. I think integrity is very important to him. As it is for F1 nowadays with the new management. We have good people in place and I hope we get the right governance."
Hamilton went on to point out that Red Bull did seem to boost their car a lot last season, compared to their rivals. "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," he added.
"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."
Meanwhile, Red Bull star Verstappen had little to say about the speculation. "To be honest, I'm not really busy with these kind of things," he told reporters at Suzuka. "It's up to the teams and the FIA and I just need to focus on the driving. There's not much more to say on that. We'll find out on Monday, I guess."
