Wolff and Binotto unsure about driver salary limit

Formula 1 is considering limiting drivers' salaries in the future, but the question is how. Toto Wolff and Mattia Binotto have their doubts about the plans.

F1's aim is to make the sport more competitive and to do that the teams' finances need to be closer together. This is already regulated by a budget cap of $140 million, but that does not include everything. For example, the engine manufacturers still have a free hand, the three highest paid employees get a contract outside the budget cap and the drivers' salaries are not included either.

For the engine manufacturers, there will almost certainly be a budget cap from 2026, so that part can be ticked off. However, drivers and the three highest paid employees of a team still fall outside the budget cap. F1 wants to change this, but it will not do so without a fight.

This is how Wolff describes the situation as controversial to Motorsport-total.com. The Austrian believes that the drivers should perhaps become part of the three best paid employees within the budget cap. According to Wolff, the budget cap should be all-encompassing and that is not the case now. However, the Mercedes team boss also says that drivers should be able to earn as much as other top-class athletes.

It will not be easy to introduce a limit. Drivers and also employees have already been tied down for a long time to a salary that probably exceeds the new limit. Max Verstappen' s contract with Red Bull Racing runs until 2028 and Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc's contract with Ferrari runs until 2024.

Binotto therefore does not know whether this is a solution to the problem. Introducing a cap on driver salaries has no direct effect, according to the Ferrari team boss. ''It will only have an impact on three or four teams, but no more. Especially those teams already have long contracts with their drivers. So we can't introduce this in the short term,'' the Italian concludes.