F1 budget cap: FIA appoints initial three-man Cost Cap Adjudication Panel, includes PSG General Secretary Victoriano Melero

F1 budget cap: FIA has appointed an initial three-man Cost Cap Adjudication Panel, with one of them being the PSG General Secretary Victoriano Melero.

With the F1 budget cap set to come into force from next season, the FIA has appointed an initial three-man Cost Cap Adjudication Panel. It includes a top British barrister, a sports lawyer from Australia, and the PSG General Secretary Victoriano Melero. The confirmation was made at the FIA’s Annual General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

Christopher Stoner QC is a respected name in the field of sports arbitration. He has experience of dealing in multiple sports, including football, swimming, cricket, tennis, rugby and boxing. He has also appeared before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and primarily deals in anti-doping, on-field etiquette and selection matters.

Stoner is joined by Tiran Gunawardena, an integral part of the sports law wing at law firm Mills & Reeve. Gunawardena is a Disciplinary Panel member off England Boxing, as well as British Gymnastics. He has appeared for his clients before the Football Association (FA), FIFA and the CAS.

💬 “We consider motorsport as our DNA. We build road cars, and we build racing cars. The first Mercedes was a racing car.”

Toto talks F1’s future, budget caps and more in @Motorsport‘s #ThinkingForward series 👇

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 17, 2020

PSG Secretary-General joins F1 budget cap panel

PSG Secretary-General Victoriano Melero joins Stoner and Gunawardena as the third member of the panel. He has been the secretary-general of the French football champions since 2017, overseeing their domestic success. Before this, he was deputy director-general at the French Football Federation (FFF).

The F1 budget cap has been set at $145million for next season. As per the current status, the amount will reduce to $140m for 2022 and $135m from 2023-2025. There are few glaring exclusions though, such as the driver salaries and the highest three earners in each team.

Also read: F1 Driver Salary: Is a pay cut to Lewis Hamilton justified? The arguments for and against it.

About the author

Subham Jindal

A Red - be it Manchester United or Ferrari. Hails from the hills of Kalimpong, Darjeeling. Aspiring to become a respected Sports Management professional.

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