"Victims are the nine teams"- Mercedes chief hits back at Red Bull boss over cost cap defense 

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hit back at Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's claims at the 2022 F1 United States Grand Prix press conference.

Horner refused to plead guilty to the 2021 cost cap breach and attacked several teams' statements. The Red Bull principal's assertiveness, however, is not convincing, according to Toto Wolff. As reported by F1Briefings, the Silver Arrows boss said:

"I almost had to squeeze out a tear when I heard that [Horner's statement]. The facts are that nine out of ten teams were under the cost cap."

He continued:

"One team is now arguing that they slipped over it with supposed non-performance topics, but these apply to all of us. We [Mercedes] also thought about how many sandwiches we give people and how we deal with various other cost pools."

The Mercedes executive did not buy Red Bull's philosophy of not gaining an unfair advantage last year. Wolff was clear with his opinion and said:

"Whatever they're over, a million, two or five, I don't know, is a cash value advantage that you can put into development. It's a little bit like reverse psychology; who is the victim? And I believe the victims are the nine teams."

Red Bull's cost cap breach is reported to be in four different areas with no proof of a development advantage. However, Mercedes did raise objections towards the Milton Keynes-based team's rapid developments in 2021.

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Red Bull raises eyebrows over an ex-Mercedes employee handling the cost cap breach

Christian Horner raised his doubts against Toto Wolff's knowledge of Red Bull's 2021 breach prior to the FIA's confirmation.

Since then, Red Bull are reportedly not happy with Shaila-Ann Rao, an ex-Mercedes employee, acting as FIA's Interim director.

However, the Silver Arrows boss claims that there's nothing to worry about. Praising Shaila-Ann Rao, he said:

"For Shaila-Ann, she was at the FIA before she joined us. She was Chief Executive Officer of one of the largest sports agencies before and the positive of having Shaila-Ann in this position is she’s one about governance and transparency."

Toto Wolff continued:

"She’s a lawyer. I think this is something we have always criticised in the past, that things weren’t always as transparent and as clear for the teams. This is one of the key topics she will be trying to implement. And that is good news for all of the teams."

As the Formula 1 fraternity awaits the Milton Keynes-based team's punishment, it'll be interesting to see how the whole situation pans out. The FIA, however, definitely faces the pressure of penalizing Red Bull heavily.