“Budget cap will end two-tier f1 racing”
Fresh hope for f1’s future as owners plot financial re structure
Formula 1’s smaller teams hope that the introduction of a cost cap during the new 2021 rules cycle should be able to end “two-tier” racing.
Liberty Media and the FIA presented their vision for F1’s future to the teams earlier this month, part of which included a cost cap and modification of how funds are distributed across the grid.
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have shared all of the race victories since the start of the V6 hybrid era in 2014, and last year’s fourth-best team, Force India, didn’t even score a podium finish.
Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said: “The two tiers are defined by your budget. What restricts us is the budget that we have to enable us to do many experiments to produce what’s optimal.
“If you don’t have the budget to produce it instantly lags coming to the track from the time you found the improvement. If you’ve got money, you’ll have the parts tomorrow. You’ll either get a bigger supplier base or buy the machinery yourself to make it.
“Once the cost cap comes in and we’re all spending the same amount, all that stuff goes away. That should bring the field together.”
Not all teams have agreed on the cost cap. Mercedes’ Toto Wolff said a suggested target figure of $150m [£107m] wasn’t achievable for the larger outfits. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all spent almost double that in 2017.
F1 has set a May deadline for establishing the engine specifications for 2021 onwards but elements such as a budget cap will take longer to define. The matter is confused by issues for manufacturers, such as Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, which also have engine programmes that need funding as well as their race teams.