Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes form a front: "Absolutely not possible!"
General
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing, Mercedes and Ferrari are strongly in favour of raising the budget ceiling. Due to massive inflation, everything has become a lot more expensive and the budgets made prior to the season can be thrown in the trash. The team bosses of the three top teams are sounding the alarm. However, they are encountering resistance from Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Williams.
These three teams simply argue that competitors who threaten to go above the budget ceiling should stop bringing updates. That way, costs would be reduced. Inflation is not a matter of force majeure they think, but Christian Horner, Andrew Shovlin and Mattia Binotto disagree, they told the press conference in the presence of FormulaPassion.it and others.
Ferrari warns F1
Last season, the budget ceiling was set at $145 million and in 2022 it was reduced to $140 million. "We can adapt to that, but we can't adapt to a six percent inflation rate. It's a shame if this sport is dictated by the budget limit. It should be about technology and sport, " Binotto judged.
"The rules are still very young and need to be fine-tuned, and there needs to be more fairness and equality in this area," says the Italian top executive. "The only thing we can do as Formula One to give ourselves a little breathing space is to relax the budget limit a little. Maybe otherwise the team that spends the most would end up being world champion."
Red Bull demands clarity
Horner predicts that all the big teams will go over the budget cap. The regulations state that an overspend of less than five percent is considered a minor violation. What the penalties are, however, is unclear and that clearly doesn't sit well with Red Bull. "Being able to bring an upgrade or not could be the deciding factor," says Horner, who wants to know exactly what is and isn't allowed and what any penalties are. "We need clarity on that, and quickly too."
The Austrian racing team goes on to say that mass redundancies can no longer be avoided if nothing is done about the current situation. That is something they want to avoid at all times. It is therefore necessary that the budget ceiling rises with inflation.
Mercedes is also in trouble
Shovlin argues that meeting the requirements of the financial regulations under these circumstances is not a do-able proposition. "It is absolutely not possible." Mercedes has been using some parts for longer than they want to and, what's more, the number of spare parts has decreased significantly. "Every weekend we could end up in a situation where we can't race, " said the top executive of the German racing team.