Given the fact that Scuderia Ferrari already racked up €2.5m worth of damage in the first part of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the Italian side is strongly stating that such costs should be left out of the budget cap. Every Formula 1 team is restricted to spending a total of $145m in 2021, with that cap only going to get lower in the following seasons.
And if we think that the running costs are higher, this affects bigger outfits such as Ferrari in particular, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner saying it posed “significant” challenges for his team at the start of this campaign.
“It’s been a significant challenge but I think the whole organisation has responded incredibly well,” he told Motorsport.com. – “It’s been about addressing efficiency, which Formula 1 teams haven’t been particularly great at in prior years. I think the challenge is significant, it’s ongoing, but it’s been well embraced. Obviously we’ve driven efficiency through internal capacity in terms of not outsourcing components and I think we’ve seen significant reductions. But it’s been a challenge and will continue to be a challenge to get there. But I think as a discipline for Formula 1, it definitely has a serious impact on the costs.” – he explained.
Some areas are excluded from the budget cap, like the driver salaries and engine manufacturer fees, in order to somewhat help the transition for teams. However crash damage is not one of them. Given how much that has cost Scuderia Ferrari during the first 11 races of the season, Mattia Binotto believes this situation needs to be looked at.
“2.5 million euros. This is the amount we have spent, from Bahrain to Hungary, for the damage suffered on the track and we are only halfway through the season There have been, and continue to be, discussions on the matter. In case of an accident, in which you are involved without blame, is it right to keep the damage account out of the budget cap? The point is important. The reason why I quoted our figure is to show that overall the damage can cost a lot and therefore, I wonder, should we consider a different type of regulation in those cases? It is not easy to find a solution, but I think it is something we will undoubtedly discuss with the FIA, F1 and all the other teams in the coming weeks.” – the Ferrari boss explained.
These strong concerns expressed by Scuderia Ferrari are more than legitimate and recent events have shown rather brutally that the rule was poorly written. And therefore it should be changed or at least looked at. Perhaps by allocating an extra budget to be activated when it is clear that damage has been caused by third parties. The regulation should not be seen as a strict unchangeable concept, but rather as something that is reached after a series of evaluations. Some of which, evidently, were badly made. Or, they simply hadn’t been dealt with as they should.
For what reason? If we rewind the tape at the end of the 2020 Formula 1 season we see that the teams were busy figuring out how to get the most out of the new Concorde Pact in terms of economic advantages. On that front, the fight has been pretty intense. Which probably distracted the parties who left such an important issue on the road as those that emerged in the last few races.
A fatal issue for which the teams, from Mercedes to Haas, are responsible. It is convenient now to stand on the side and only accuse the FIA. In fact, in the process of defining the budget cap, the team principals were very much an active part. This does not mean that the regulatory body must remain as it is for some sort of punishment. The change of course is more than desirable. And they have to if we want to be honest. Ultimately, the ones responsable for this situation should talk less in public and work with more diligence and determination when the rules are written.
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