Red Bull team boss Christian Horner threatens that several teams would have to skip some Formula 1 races because of the budget cap. He sparks a big discussion in which he now receives support from Ferrari. Headwind comes from the smaller teams.
The team bosses of the Formula 1 racing teams Ferrari and Red Bull have energetically demanded an increase in the budget ceiling due to “force majeure”. For Ferrari it is “impossible” to comply with the so-called budget cap of 140 million dollars this year, said team boss Mattia Binotto on Saturday on the sidelines of the Monaco Grand Prix (Sunday, 3 p.m. / Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker ). “Six percent inflation was not foreseeable,” argued the Italian.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, who started the discussion last week (“seven teams will probably have to skip the last four races”), also referred to the influence of the war in Ukraine. “You can influence a lot as a team, but prices are dictated,” said the Briton and called for “quick clarity” from Formula 1 management and the FIA, the world automotive association. “Otherwise we would have to skip races or lay off employees to stay under the budget limit,” said world champion Max Verstappen’s boss.
The so-called budget cap was introduced in Formula 1 last season and initially amounted to 145 million dollars – however, the salaries of the pilots, among other things, are excluded from this. This season, the spending cap was lowered to $140 million, as planned.
For some of the smaller racing teams it is not a problem to remain under the limit despite increased costs for materials, logistics or energy. “The best way to save is simply to turn off the wind tunnel,” said Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur against the representatives of the major racing teams. Vasseur’s counterpart at Alpine, Otmar Szafnauer, takes a similar stance: “We jointly decided on the budget cap, so we should stand by it.”
Haas team boss Günther Steiner said: “I have no option to tell my boss that I can’t make it to the end of the season.” You have to start saving money now, he stressed. “As a businessman, you just have to make it by the end of the year,” says Steiner: “You just have to manage it.”
Binotto, meanwhile, considers it important to spontaneously raise the limit for Formula 1 as a whole. “Many teams will break the budget cap if it stays that way. Then the entire value of the measure will be called into question,” said the Ferrari team boss.
The regulations allow teams to exceed the limit by up to five percent. In this case, “minor sanctions” are envisaged, which would be determined by the motorsport adjudicatory bodies.
