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Racing Point sees Mercedes leaving F1 fastest: "Ferrari has nothing else"
- GPblog.com
Discussions on a further lowering of the budget ceiling are still ongoing, because the Formula 1 teams have not yet found each other. The latest news now is that it has been proposed to use an amount of $145 million per season in 2021 and to reduce this amount to $130 million one season later.
Ferrari, according to Auto, Motor und Sport, would not like the reduction of fifteen million dollars after next season. In 2022 the new regulations will be introduced and that means completely new cars in Formula 1. Ferrari then wants more freedom of movement. The Italian race stable is afraid that the top teams will be overtaken too soon by the smaller teams.
Racing Point about wish Ferrari
For Racing Point, that wish of Ferrari is not such a problem, since it is not considered decisive. "If we keep it at $145 million for five years, inflation will bring us down to $130 million. Two per cent a year means a loss of purchasing power of 15 million. If inflation is only one percent, it would still be 7.5 million less."
Those smaller teams seem to be headed by McLaren. The team of Zak Brown and Andreas Seidl seize the coronavirus and the resulting financial problems to close the gap to Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. But what position does Racing Point take in this battle? It is a smaller race stable, but with owner Lawrence Stroll there is enough money available to continue investing in the coming years.
Racing Point at $100 million per season the best
The past few weeks also saw a budget ceiling of 100 million dollars. "Then we'd be the best," says team boss Otmar Szafnauer. "For years, we've managed to perform well with this amount. No one has as much experience with this as we do." Racing Point used to go through life as Racing Point and it's common knowledge that that team had one of the lowest budgets in the king's class of motorsport for several seasons.
Szafnauer would personally accept the $145 million proposal. "We have to look at both sides. 145 million is a good step towards the small teams. But we must also take into account the interests of the big ones. If we punish them too much, we risk losing them," said the born Romanian.
Racing Point sees Mercedes leave the fastest
According to Szafnauer, the threats Ferrari has fired lately should not be taken too seriously, according to the German medium. "Ferrari will always be there. They have nothing else. I would be more concerned with teams like Mercedes. If we go back to 100 million dollars and we lose a big team, we won nothing", he believes.