Steiner: 'The budget cap will hopefully attract new teams'

New teams

"For teams coming in, when a budget cap is discussed, there are always some people out there which think they can make money with it. It's still a very expensive sport. You still need to invest a lot of money to get somewhere", Steiner wants to indicate that it might not be immediately attractive for private teams. But for factory teams, on the other side, it can be very interesting.

"I think what the good thing is for the manufacturers, if a board of directors see there is a cap, they know how much they're going to spend as a maximum. You [don't] start with one number and after five years this number has tripled or quadrupled from what you said a few years before." In other words: you know in advance that you are not going to spend more than a certain amount.

"Now there is a stake in the ground saying this is the maximum you are allowed to spend by regulation. It's pretty clear cut now. Whereas before, it was always how much is a piece of string, how much do you want to invest." And with that fixed point, Steiner hopes that there will be more parties considering entering the sport. That it is good for Formula 1, he is convinced of that.

Steiner: "I think it's a good thing, and hopefully gets corporates or car manufacturers to invest in Formula 1."

Falling of small teams

According to Steiner, the budget cap is also desperately needed, otherwise teams would have fallen over. That's not good for the big teams, nor for the sport itself. After all, thinning out the field of participants could lead to rather boring races.

"I think some of the small teams would have gone [without a budget cap], and that wouldn't have helped the big teams as well. I think it's a fair compromise. They realised that, and made some cuttings as far as they could go, and the compromise came out. I think for sure that they are aware that without the smaller teams, there is no sport", said the Italian.