Toto Wolff hits accuses Red Bull of ‘diverting attention’

Toto Wolff has said Red Bull’s claims that the FIA leaked information about their budget cap penalty to Mercedes are nothing but a ‘sideshow’. The Mercedes team principal claimed Red Bull’s comments were simply ‘diverting attention’ from the team after they were found guilty of overspending.His comments come after Red Bull chief Helmut Marko reiterated the claims that Mercedes found out about the issue due to some kind of leak. He said it was strange other teams were discussing the issue as early as the Singapore Grand Prix before the FIA had finished investigating the team’s budgets.Red Bull was only found guilty a week later, a day after the Japanese Grand Prix. Marko said: ‘It can’t be that two teams went public with detailed knowledge before we were informed.”However, Wolff has hit back at Red Bull’s accusations and confirmed the Silver Arrows received no new information from the governing body. According to Motorsport-Total.com, Wolff explained: ‘The leak did not come from the FIA, but there are ten finance directors who sit together all year and find out who did what.READ MORE: Martin Brundle claims Red Bull still have weapon despite penalty Toto Wolff has hit back at Red Bull’s claims (Image: Getty)’There was a violation, it doesn’t really matter how it came about. Violation is violation. Who talked about it? I think it was the finance directors.’It is also a total sideshow. It is an attempt by Red Bull to divert attention.’ The FIA refuted the claims after the Singapore Grand Prix, confirming no information had been leaked to Red Bull’s rivals.In a statement, they said: ‘The FIA also reiterates that any suggestion that FIA personnel have disclosed sensitive information is equally baseless.’ Red Bull have been hit with a 10 per cent reduction in wind tunnel testing and CGD development for next season.DON’T MISSChristian Horner says six teams could breach cost cap in 2022 [INSIGHT]Mercedes chief accuses Christian Horner of ‘exaggeration’ over penalty [COMMENT]Ferrari ‘not happy’ about Red Bull penalty for two reasons [ANALYSIS] Christian Horner warned the penalty could cost the team half a second per lap (Image: Getty)The team has also been issued a £6.4million ($7mil) fine for spending more than the cap. The FIA found the team had exceeded the limit by £1.8million ($2.2mil) last season.However, the FIA confirmed this would have dropped to just £432,000 ($0.5mil) if Red Bull had submitted a tax report correctly. Red Bull boss Christian Horner blasted the FIA’s penalty as a ‘draconian’ measure on Friday.He also claimed the loss of development time could affect the team’s performance next season. Horner commented: ‘I’ve heard people reporting today it is an insignificant amount. Let me tell you now that is an enormous amount that represents anywhere between a quarter and half second’s worth of lap time.”