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Money runs out at Williams, budget cap proposal lacked enough support
- Corwin Kunst
Williams experienced a lot of crashes last season. Logan Sargeant, Alexander Albon and also Franco Colapinto collided with the wall or with another car particularly often, so the British team may be exceeding its budget cap. To avoid that, James Vowles' team recently made a proposal to the FIA. It was discussed with the nine other teams, but Williams got zero response.
Because of the many repairs that have had to be made, it has resulted in huge costs, and that means that Williams still does not know if they are going to stay within the budget cap in 2024. According to Vowles, it is difficult to suddenly make huge cost savings somewhere in the final weeks of the year.
What Williams could have done is borrow $5 million from 2025 to plug the holes in the 2024 budget. However, that also comes with a hefty price tag. If that were to be done by Williams, the following year, the team would then have $10 million in its budget cap cut, putting Vowles and his men on the back foot once again. Williams would then be better off accepting a fine for the possible 2024 overspend, as that fine in turn falls outside the 2025 budget cap.
Williams have their request rejected
Whether the Williams drivers themselves are to blame for the crashes or whether they are not to blame, the budget cap makes no distinction in that. The costs incurred fall within the cap in any case. Vowles therefore made a proposal to the FIA: from the tenth major crash in a season, up to one million dollars of the repair costs (per crash), should fall outside the budget cap.
The idea was discussed with all teams, the FIA and FOM during the Technical Advisory Committee, and it did not receive sufficient support, the FIA informs GPblog. As a result, that still leaves Williams' financial problems unresolved.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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