F1 News
F1 Today | Williams in budget cap trouble, and GPDA chairman on Verstappen
The end of the 2024 season means that budget caps for teams will need to be finalized and sorted. However, one team is in a really dire situation with that, and that is Williams. Also today, GPDA president Alexander Wurz reacts to Max Verstappen's comments to the FIA and the stewards at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and the FIA themselves talk about incorporating AI into the world of F1.
Williams have budget cap proposal refused
Towards the end of the season, crashes plagued the Williams team, along with reliability issues. As a result, there is a real issue that the British team will be forced to spend more than the budget cap for the 2024 season.
James Vowles and his team recently made a proposal to the FIA, saying that from the tenth major crash in a season onwards, a million dollars of the repair costs (per crash) should fall outside the budget cap.
This was put to the other team, along with the FIA and FOM. However, Williams did not receive sufficient support, which the FIA informed GPblog. As a result, the financial predicament for the Britsh team continues.
Wurz reacts to Verstappen's "stupid idiot" comments
The 2024 Formula 1 season may be over, but at the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen's collision with Oscar Piastri, and subsequent response, is still being talked about. The Dutchman was given a ten-second penalty for causing a collision with the Australian, and after he served it, he branded the FIA and their stewards as "stupid idiots."
Chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association Alexander Wurz commented on the issue, but said he actually "expected more to come" from it, thinking that the FIA would not be too impressed by Verstappen throwing some more words in their direction.
However, there was no approach from the sport's governing body, and that was something that pleased Wurz: "That's cool That's good. That's what we want. Of course, we also have a social responsibility because people, children, are watching at home or roughness just right."
FIA want to start using AI with their decision-making
The FIA have said there will be some changes to the sporting and technical regulation for the 2025 F1 season. The FIA World Motor Sport Council met on Wednesday 11 December for the last meeting of 2024, with several decisions made during the final meeting.
One of the key points that were made in the meeting was the hope that Artificial Intelligence will be used to help with decision-making in the sport: "The technical and safety department of the FIA is working on introducing new systems using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the provision of information for decision-makers."
There have been a few other changes for next year, which you can read about by clicking the link above. And to catch up on everything else, be sure to go to the GPblog website!
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