The cost cap has been a debatable topic in F1 from a macro perspective with the teams and the FIA often tussling about it. However, few have talked about how it impacts the engineers and mechanics who work for the teams on the ground. Adrian Newey shed some light on the same, highlighting how F1 is losing out on talent to other categories like the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Now, former F1 engineer Blake Hinsey has added to Newey‘s concerns by comparing how the pay levels in F1 are much lower. “Just had a loose conversation with a recruiter about an F1 race engineer gig. Their MAXIMUM salary was less than I was making last year as a part-time performance engineer in WEC on an LMDh team.”, Blake wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Why aren’t the team bosses advocating harder for increased cost cap to accommodate increased cost of living and inflation?”
The former Red Bull performance engineer alleged that senior leaders have a scope of ‘pocketing’ the surplus amount of the budget cap—which stands at $135M—if their team posts a profit for that particular season.
Blake currently works in the WEC, having served as a part-time performance and race engineer for Prema Racing last year. He is currently working as a race engineer for Wayne Taylor Racing for their #40 car. While he doesn’t wish to return to F1 himself, he has urged journalists to pose this question to the top brass in interviews to eradicate this pay gap in the sport.
Want to know how fucked the cost cap in Formula 1 is?
People in the sport don’t talk about this because they can’t. So I will 🙂
Just had a loose conversation with a recruiter about an F1 race engineer gig. Their MAXIMUM salary was less than I was making last year as a part-time…
— Blake (@brrrake) January 30, 2025
Newey, on the other hand, gave a bird’s eye view of how things have become dire for engineers at the operational level in his interview with AMuS. The Aston Martin technical honcho feels that the cost cap has restricted F1 teams from hiring the best talent as WEC teams and even tech companies have a better pay structure.
“The cost cap does come with a lot of hidden penalties, one of which is that it actually means Formula 1 is no longer the best paid industry,” he said.
So, engineers and on-ground pit crew mechanics have to weigh whether all their effort over a 24-race calendar is worth the pay they are receiving or not.
Increased workload and lesser pay for mechanics and engineers in F1
F1 increasing the number of races every other season affects the engineers, technicians, and all the support crew even more than the drivers. The amount of travel and logistical work they have to manage for over 200 days in a year, away from their home and family, is certainly testing their patience.
Red Bull pit crew leader Calum Nicholas recently admitted how he feels like quitting the sport altogether. He gave an example of how his daughter’s birthday clashed with the Brazilian GP weekend last year.
While his crewmates were there to cheer him up, there are several such family moments that mechanics like Nicholas miss out on, due to F1’s hectic schedule. Couple this increased workload with the pay issue, it makes sense why the attrition rate among F1 teams has increased in recent years.
To tackle the engineers’ and mechanics’ fatigue, teams have introduced rotational squads to travel for various races across the season, which can provide much-needed relief for all team members at some point during the season. Nicholas also believes that doubling down on this idea could be the future of F1.
