Dissension after FIA adjustment: 'Not as pleasant as it seems'

The amended financial regulations have been met with mixed reactions. Several teams are happy that there will be more leeway for investments that do not directly affect performance. Other teams, such as Ferrari and Red Bull Racing-affiliated AlphaTauri, are less enthusiastic, according to what they answered to a question by GPblog.

It basically becomes easier for smaller teams to make longer-term investments. James Vowles, in particular, was an outspoken advocate of adjusting the so-called capex limit. After all, his team Williams could not make all investments in, for example, the factory and the software used, as with the budget cap rules originally set, there was not enough financial room for that. The $36 million cap from before, to be spread over four years, will now be raised.

Williams and McLaren enthusiastic

"I'm pleased we got there with the resolution and it will help me tremendously in the start of our journey anyway," Vowles said. Andrea Stella, McLaren's team boss, was equally enthusiastic. "I would remark that it was a positive process where teams and the institutions that led the process managed to find an agreement. For us, this is welcome news. We're going to use the extra allowance. And so I think that's a good thing for us."

For the bigger teams - which were already making all kinds of investments at the time when money was still sloshing against the walls - there will be fewer investment opportunities. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur may therefore not have been as enthusiastic as his colleagues, who will have relatively more financial leeway.

"I'm not really convinced," Vasseur said. "I'm not really convinced. First, if you ask your engineers if they want to get more, they will always say, yes, we want to get more. And it's a non-end process. And I think that we opened the door a couple of times to change the cost cap regulation. And this is very dangerous. Again, I'm coming back to the previous topic. We have to keep in mind the situation of 2019. And it's not because the business is going well today that we have to change everything just to come back to the previous situation. And I think we are taking every single opportunity to break everything. This is dangerous."

AlphaTauri must reverse all plans

Peter Bayer, the CEO of AlphaTauri and thus part of Red Bull, is not completely happy either: "Yes, I agree with Fred, actually. Having been involved in the development of the cost cap, the idea was really to make sure that all the teams will either squeeze into a certain number or have a chance to actually hit that number. Now, on the OpEx, we're having inflation indexation. On the CapEx, we have another increase."

"Whilst in principle, it's nice, but currently we don't have the money. So I have to try and find the money, the sponsorship, or maybe a walk. It's challenging because you're making a plan and you're deciding on your investment. And then suddenly within six months, regulations change and you have to go back to your shareholders in my case. And that was not as pleasant as it might look. No, but we'll deal with it. But that's probably my opinion," Bayer said.