Rumors
Remarkable proposal: Too successful in Formula 1? Then you get punished!
- Ludo van Denderen
A remarkable idea in Formula 1: Customer teams that are too successful should be forced to design and produce more parts themselves. A punishment, then, for too much success.
From their very first day in Formula 1, Haas F1 has been a topic of conversation: Namely, the American racing stable buys as many parts as possible from Ferrari, which means it spends less on developing components than its competitors. And that stings with rivals, especially when Haas - as in the current season - is having a sportingly strong year.
Haas and VCARB 'the victims'
Teams like Williams, Aston Martin and Alpine would now like customer teams that are too successful to be obliged to produce more of their own components. According to Auto, Motor und Sport, there is a proposal to require customer teams that finish fifth or better in the constructors' championship to then make a greater percentage of components themselves within three years.
It is not only Haas F1 that could suffer, but also Visa Cash App RB's team. This Italian team plans to take over more and more components from sister team Red Bull Racing.
Opponents of the proposal argue that in that case it would make it almost impossible for the smaller teams to be active in Formula 1. After all, Haas does not have the budget to hire more people and open a new factory to make more parts. Moreover, it is said, fans do not care at all whether a team produces parts itself or buys them from another team; what matters is that they see exciting races.
This article has been written in collaboration with Ben Stevens.
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