F1 Drivers’ Salary Cap: Red Bull boss Christian Horner fears the drivers’ salary cap regulation could get entangled legally.
Lewis Hamilton has already spoken about the F1 drivers’ salary cap that is set to be introduced from 2023. He has called the Romain Grosjean-headed GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers’ Association) to intervene and involve themselves in discussions with F1.
Now, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has confirmed that it is not a done deal at the moment. It is just a discussion at the moment, and nothing more. This essentially means the F1 drivers’ salary cap is yet to be a regulation for the sport. But with Covid-19’s impact, this needs to be brought in at the earliest feasible for all parties concerned.
“The discussion of a cap at the moment is exactly that. There is no rule or regulation, it has not been voted in, it is not part of any sporting, financial or other regulations. But costs are sensitive to everybody at the moment. It was tabled, it got a response so we will see where it goes. But it is far from being a set of regulations because there are all sorts of legal ramifications that need to be looked at before we found out if it is implementable.”
Teams will have to balance between car and driver
Horner added that teams that want to ‘overpay’ their drivers will have to do so at the expense of the car costs involved. This could be a reference to Mercedes, who have Lewis Hamilton in their payroll – the highest-paid driver in the sport. Red Bull’s very own Max Verstappen reportedly earns around $20m each season.
“Of course, if a team chooses to spend more than the cap, it comes out within the budget cap so it is not, therefore, limiting the amount a driver can earn. It is just simply dictating to the team that there would be a maximum allowance for the drivers and anything beyond that would have to be out of the chassis cap.”
