Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto “extreme” views on improving Formula 1. The Ferrari boss is in favour of a budget cap.

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto has some extreme views on how to improve Formula 1. The Ferrari boss is in favour of a budget cap but wants the teams to be able to spend the money exactly how they want and not have strict regulations which “standardise” each car. This would mean that each teams car would be different but the competitive design between the teams would be back in F1.

“Sustainability is a key factor, and on the introduction of the budget cap we are all in favor, we have already signed a letter,” Mattia Binotto said to Motorsport.com. “Even the financial regulation is a key point of the future, the goal is to contain expenses in the hope of reducing the gap between the top teams and the other teams, and even if the agreed maximum budget remains very high for small teams, I believe that the gap will actually reduce.

“Even in this case, I do not think standardization can work: when there is a spending limit set by regulation, we all start off as equals, and paradoxically we could leave the freedom to design and build what we want around four tyres, without rules, it’s up to your team to decide how to spend your money in the best way in order to have a car as fast as possible.”

This is a different approach to what we have heard from other team bosses but Binotto is sure that it would work.

“It would be an extreme approach, but it is to make it clear that I don’t think standard parts are needed to save on the budget because we will still spend the maximum amount allowed by the regulation and in fact, the standard parts will have no influence on cost reduction. The best teams will spend everything possible up to the last euro, I think we will have to be very careful in assessing the risk/benefit ratio and not forgetting the final goal.”

This idea seems to work in theory but could lead to single teams having extreme advantages through better design. If introduced, there will surely still have to be some rules for the teams to have to stick to.