Toto Wolff and Mercedes Close to Breaching $135,000,000 Budget Cap; Claims Christian Horner
After enduring a lot of struggle in the initial stages of the season, Mercedes finally showed some strong signs of progress at the Spanish GP. However, this has also led to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner taking a dig at his rival Toto Wolff, as he issued them a stark warning.
Mercedes brought upgrades to the Spanish GP that significantly improved the W14’s performance. Even though qualifying didn’t go their way, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made major amends for it and fought hard to earn a double podium finish.
Hamilton finished P2, ahead of Russell in P3 and the mood in the Brackley-based outfit is euphoric. Horner, however, feels that their joy will likely be short-lived, as they cannot bring any more major upgrades until the end of the season.
Mercedes spent big on Spanish GP upgrades, says Christian Horner
One of the things that every team needs to keep in check is the budget cap. No team is allowed to spend more than $135,000,000 in a single season, and Red Bull already knows the consequences of breaching that. They were found guilty of overspending last year, which landed them a hefty $7,000,000 fine and a 10% reduction in wind-tunnel time.
Horner is now using his experience in issuing a warning to Wolff. The 49-year-old feels that Mercedes have already spent a lot on the upgrades they brought to Barcelona. This means that they are close to breaching the cap, which is why Horner isn’t worried about Wolff bringing in more upgrades for Hamilton and Russell in the coming races.
“They’ve obviously committed a significant part of their budget cap to this upgrade,” said Horner as quoted by Planet F1. “It’s up to the team how and when it applies it.”
“Obviously, visually, they look a bit different. But sometimes the visual things actually have the least performance impact. It’s what’s usually underneath the skin. Or the finer detail that has the biggest impact.”
Toto Wolff and Co. make major leap in Barcelona
Mercedes started off the season being comprehensively outperformed by Aston Martin on almost all fronts. Fernando Alonso in particular was a regular feature on the podium, accompanying the two Red Bull drivers. However, we’ve seen a major shift in dynamic since Mercedes got rid of the zero sidepods.
Ahead of the Spanish GP, the Silver Arrows were one point behind Aston Martin. Now, they are 18 points ahead, after Hamilton and Russell’s double podium finish. In fact, the Mercedes duo became the first team other than Red Bull to achieve this feat this season.
Nevertheless, Alonso feels that Mercedes’ superiority over them was a one-off affair. In the coming race in Canada, he expects to be on top of them once again.
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