Marko expects additional measures: "Verstappen will not be happy to hear this"
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Helmut Marko thinks that the next step for Formula 1 is to also include the drivers' salaries in the budget cap. The advisor of Red Bull Racing jokes at ORF that Max Verstappen isn't going to like that, but the 77-year old Austrian thinks it's insurmountable.
"We now have a budget cap in terms of car development. Max will not be happy to hear this, but at some point there will also be a budget cap on the drivers' salaries. This is the next step", says Marko. Renault team boss Cyril Abiteboul recently indicated that in time the salary costs should also fall within the budget cap.
Will Verstappen have to cut his salary later?
Max Verstappen reportedly earns at least thirty million euros on an annual basis after his contract extension with Red Bull, although this has never been confirmed by the camp of Verstappen or the Austrian race stable itself. If salary costs will soon also be included in the amount the Formula 1 teams are allowed to spend on an annual basis, the question is whether Verstappen will be able to continue earning that much when signing a new contract.
Red Bull initially struggled in the negotiations between the race stables and Liberty Media to reduce the budget cap of $175 million per season even further. The Milton Keynes-based team has now moved on and is pleased that there is an agreement, although it is now estimated to be spending some 490 million a season. So there must be a lot of cutbacks.
Red Bull happy with agreement on budget cap
"We're ahead," Marko makes it clear. "Even with the amount that has now been agreed, we are still talking about a lot of money. If the field is more compressed and the driver is more in the foreground, and the technology is not too advanced, then I think that this can be a very positive step for the future".
At ORF, Marko is faced with the amount of 37 million euros that Lewis Hamilton would earn per season at Mercedes. However, according to the top man from Graz, this is not true. "I think that this has to be rounded far up. You have to make a distinction: there is a fixed salary but there are also bonuses per Grand Prix won and for winning world championships and the like. It is certainly more than the 37 million mentioned", he concludes.