Villeneuve to top F1 teams: 'Complaining about budget limit is unfair'
Jacques Villeneuve thinks it is unfair that teams complain about the budget ceiling. The 1997 World Champion does not understand why teams are backtracking when everyone has agreed to the rules.
Complain less and develop more
Speaking to Formule1.nl Villeneuve says it is not logical to change the rules regarding the budget ceiling. Each team has agreed to the limit in advance and as Villeneuve rightly says, more expensive flights are a problem for each team. Villeneuve thinks that the teams who go towards the limit simply have to develop less.
The problems with the budget cap are mainly problems for the bigger teams like Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and McLaren. Smaller teams like Williams and Haas F1 will not even reach the $140 million (about €132 million) limit. Villeneuve praises Alpine, as it is a bigger team that does not complain and stays nicely within the limit.
Inflation leads to complaints
Christian Horner went so far as to say that some teams will have to miss races if the limit is not increased. Due to high inflation in 2022, Horner, Toto Wolff and Mattia Binotto are lobbying for an increase in the spending limit.
For people like Jacques, inflation doesn't affect them. They have more than enough money to last several lifetimes. It isn't just 4 teams up against the wall.
Bring in a floor so teams have to spend no lower than 10 million below the upper limit or they get heavily penalized, Haas barely spent 90 million last year.
A cost cap shouldn't be a race for everyone to operate like Haas or Williams.
If you want lousy racing, be careful what you wish for
Horner and i am sure others want to know what the penalties will be for going over the cap. If its just money then no problem.
