F1 first introduced the budget cap in the 2021 season, with the intention to level the playing field. For a long time, the big teams in F1, thanks to their financial power, had a huge advantage over the smaller sides because of their ability to not only recruit the best talent but also better develop the car.
However, per Alpine’s executive advisor Flavio Briatore, the budget cap has failed to achieve its objective as the big teams still enjoy a huge advantage. “The name budget cap sounds very good. The reality is different,” the Italian said in an interview with AMuS.
He highlighted how some of the most important things such as a driver’s salary are not “included in the budget“. Further, he added, “Also expensive engineers. Adrian Newey is as expensive as a driver. That’s a big cost factor“.
Briatore believes that if a driver’s salary is included in the budget cap, it would put teams in a huge dilemma — “Do I prefer to spend my money on the driver or the car“?
The 74-year-old has a noteworthy point as the smaller teams have barely made any progress over the years. But would including a driver’s salary in the budget cap actually make it fair?
Is the car more important in F1 or the driver?
As important as it is for teams to have the best of drivers to achieve success, it seems to be a well-known fact that without a good car, none of the sides can be successful. Some of the all-time greats like Fernando Alonso have not achieved as much success as perhaps they deserve just because they did not have the best car underneath them.
| Ferrari proposed a ‘weighted budget cap’ which F1 is considering :
‘Ferrari has promoted a proposal aimed at making the budget cap more flexible, adapting it to national specificities in terms of labor costs. With labor costs and salaries that vary from country to country,… pic.twitter.com/chMXUia6Wt
— sim (@sim3744) October 7, 2024
Therefore, if F1 were to include a driver’s salary in the budget cap, then most of the racers would perhaps not earn what they deserve as most of the teams would most likely prefer to spend most of the money on building their cars. Hence, unsurprisingly, drivers were themselves against the idea of introducing their salary in the budget cap.
F1 world champions Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel highlighted how it is unfair for drivers to see their salaries decrease at a time when the sport has been flourishing financially. With the cost cap currently $135 million, it would mean that teams wanting to sign the likes of Verstappen or Hamilton would need to spend almost half of their budget to pay the salary of one driver, something that is likely to be unfeasible for any side.
Therefore, it seems unlikely that Briatore’s suggestion would be implemented in F1 even though serious discussions have been held regarding the same.
