Williams Boss Defends Ferrari Getting $100,000,000 More Than All Teams Every Year: “They Bring a Certain Level of Legacy”

Sabyasachi Biswas | 17/08/2023
After Red Bull, Ferrari Is at Risk of Exceeding $135,000,000 Cost Cap

Scuderia Ferrari makes a staggering $100,000,000 for having a legacy behind their name. The Prancing Horses receive a unique payment every year from F1 and it is something that no other team receives. As Ferrari receives the huge sum, Williams boss James Vowles, according to Motorsport Total has no problem with it.

The Italian team gets the heritage tax for being a legendary brand that kept its connection with the sport. Furthermore, the Maranello-based team is the only team that competed in F1 every single season, hence it is a sort of bragging right for them.

On top of that, few experts believe that the brand itself is bigger than F1. This can be understood when someone is asked about a team in F1 and the first thing they answer will have Ferrari’s name. Partly because they are also the oldest F1 team by far.

Vowles is fine with Ferrari receiving Heritage tax

As Ferrari receives Heritage tax from F1 every year, Vowles sees nothing wrong with it. Furthermore, the Williams boss also argued in favor of it. Talking about this, the former Mercedes engineer said, “I think Ferrari brings something special to the sport. We have to be honest about that.”

If you ask the average person who they know in Formula 1, you will see that Ferrari is still a name that sticks out. That’s the truth behind it. They bring a certain level of legacy and recognition to the sport, so I think there’s a reason these things are there,” further added the Williams boss.

With the additional $100 million, Ferrari also saves a lot of money as they don’t get to spend much on the F1 team due to the budget cap restriction. And even after that, they couldn’t make a dent in their performance and are now looking at ways to reverse them.

Ferrari’s struggle despite being the most successful team

Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful team in F1 history. They have 16 Constructors’ championships and 15 drivers’ championships under them. But all of these are past as they have not won a single championship since 2008.

Despite being the Heritage team of the sport, Ferrari’s off-form has been a pain for the Tifosi for 15 years now. And even in 2023, they look far from claiming any of the two available titles.

The cost cap was brought by F1 to level the playing field, but it did not help them either as they have been in the shadows of Red Bull and Mercedes in the last one and a half decades. All in all, the Heritage team of F1 is slowly but steadily fading away.

Post Edited By: Shreya Sanjeev

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.