F1 News
OFFICIAL: Five-year plan Formula 1 a fact, budget cap reduced even further
- Thierry Bakker
Whereas Formula 1 seemed to have reached an agreement for a universal budget cap at the end of last year, the corona crisis in recent months made it necessary to renegotiate the terms. The outcome of this has been on the shelf for a while and now this five-year plan is official.
It was previously agreed that the original limit of $175 million per year for 2021 would be reduced to $145 million, and incrementally, several million more will be added by 2025.
The aim is to reduce the limit to 140 million by 2022 and to 135 million by 2023. The latter amount will then remain in place for two years, while in the meantime a new reduction will be renegotiated.
Ferrari and Red Bull Racing will have to settle for a gradual reduction
This brings us ever closer to the ambitious goal of McLaren in particular. CEO Zak Brown set high standards from the start of the negotiations by introducing a ceiling of 100 million by 2021. With this result he too has to make concessions, but (together with the other 'small' team) seems to emerge victorious from the negotiations.
Ferrari and Red Bull Racing were from the beginning the biggest opponents of a further reduction, especially if that would happen right away in 2021. Christian Horner suggested the idea of customer cars as an alternative, but will have to settle for a gradual reduction of the budget.