F1 And budget cap. The driver and technician market is now the suggestion that keeps interest alive in a world championship that is starting to have the same characteristics as last year. The surprising passage of Lewis Hamilton to the court of prancing Horse and internal investigation in the house Red Bull towards Christian Hornerhave produced a domino effect that was unpredictable until a few months ago. Adrian Newey’s very probable farewell from team of Milton Keynes after almost two decadesarouses even more hype than market movements involving renowned drivers.
The toxic environment long hidden by the repeated successes risks imploding the Austrian world champion team. It’s not a mystery at all Mercedes is carrying out a close courtship, with the clear aim of signing the three-time Dutch world champion. Toto Wolff he is willing to do anything, even bringing the historical consultant of the “bulls” into his home, for that matter Helmut Markojust to convince the champion of Netherlands to take up the baton left prematurely by Lewis Hamilton.
A salary at the “limit of decency” is hypothesized, in order to worthily take up the legacy of the seven-time world champion. The same goes for Adrian Newey who in fact received a mind-boggling offer from the group of entrepreneurs led by Lawrence Strollto become part of the ambitious project Aston Martin accompanied by the great support of Honda. From the point of view of the financial regulation, both the wages of the pilots and that of the three most highly paid technicians do not enter into the calculation of the budget cap.
However, the escalation of expenditure in areas not governed by the Financial Regulation, is defeating the spirit of the regulatory body itself. The limit on emoluments was designed to contain the annual expenses of the stables before the season 2021 they were well over half a billion dollars in terms of top team, Mercedes And Ferrari in first of all. When the best drivers and technicians are on the market, therefore, it is very clear that many teams will never be able to aspire to hire them.
The budget cap It fails to regulate many areas that determine a competitive advantage. If it were true that the team of Brackely had offered about 150 million dollars per seasonto Verstappento benefit from the enlightened services of the champion of Hasseltthis is the equivalent of what a team has available to cover the expenses of the entire competitive season. On balance it is very likely that i top teambetween costs included and excluded from budget capspend exactly the same amount of money before the measure takes effect.
F1, economic sustainability goes out the window
As often happens F1 he preaches well and scratches badly. The much vaunted and desired economic sustainability, capable of leveling the values on the track, goes out the window when, a mountain of money goes out the back door of costs not included in the financial regulation. So the question is: Are market operations that move an amount of money similar if not higher than that theoretically set by the financial regulation ethically legitimate? Due to random factors and expiration of existing contracts, the market for pilots and technicians has shown the fragility of a regulatory body that aspires to achieve a chimera.
The same regulation that prevents investing in environmental sustainability. In the past few months Zack Brown had raised a cry of alarm, asking that among the expenses included in the calculation of budget cap some expense items for projects and sustainability initiatives were eliminated, without compromising the integrity of the cost ceiling. These should include initiatives and training on diversity, equity and inclusion, well-being activities team and reduction of costs for internship programs useful to facilitate access to careers in the sector motorsports.
Secondly, a technical regulation should be reached that actively encourages the adoption of more sustainable materials and processes, capable of promoting the research and development of an F1 car. Topics on which the world of the highest category of motorsport is stalling, while uncontrolled costs are assuming dangerous proportions for the very permanence of some team, in the medium to long term. This is the very little talked about scenario which, going forward at this rate, has every possibility of doing more damage than hail, as they say…
Author and graphics: Roberto Cecere – @robertofunoat
Images: Scuderia Ferrari – Oracle Red Bull Racing
