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'It's up to the F1 teams themselves to deal with the budget cap properly'

8 June 2022 at 07:00
Last update 8 June 2022 at 09:00
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  • GPblog.com

It's not often that the rival teams of Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and Mercedes agree, but when it comes to the budget cap, they do. The top teams would like to see an increase in the limit due to inflation, but former Formula One driver Johnny Herbert believes they would be better off looking at their own budgets.

'F1 teams must manage budget cap in the right way'

The budget cap was introduced to bring the field closer together and reduce costs within the sport, and in this Herbert says the measure has succeeded. However, the top teams say they are struggling to meet the budget, partly because of inflation caused by the war in Ukraine. As a result, they fear they will not be able to make all the developments they want. Christian Horner even fears that a number of teams will not make it to the end of the season.

The three-time F1 winner believes that the teams concerned should take care not to spend too much money themselves. "It's a money management race," he says. "Many teams, like McLaren, don't even get to the $140 million limit. You just have to manage it in the right way; everyone knew how much money they would need for the season."

However, McLaren itself recently indicated that it would be "virtually impossible" to meet the budget ceiling. This would make it one of seven teams behind an increase in the limit: only Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Williams would be opposed. Haas team boss Guenther Steiner also criticized the statements of the top teams, but partly due to the team's two locations in the United States and Italy, Haas also faces very high transportation costs.