Ferrari believes it is the FIA’s duty to closely monitor Formula One’s budget cap this year, or risk distorting competition
While Formula One teams brace themselves for a development battle to improve their current cars for 2022, they will have to carefully consider their spending to stay within the $140 million budget limit
In doing so, some teams will have to face the fact that they will not be able to bring all the upgrades they want because of the limit. With this in mind, it is feared that they will try to circumvent the financial regulations in order to fund more development work.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto therefore insists that F1 must guarantee that no one can break the budget cap, as this could prove crucial in the fight for the world championship this season.
Lower budget requires more strategic approach
“The budget cap will affect the pace of development,” says the Italian. “I think it’s a key element and my concern is that we need to make sure we have the right control over it because it can be, let’s say, a game changer in the fight for developments. “
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner also said ahead of the latest race weekend that teams need to be much more strategic in their plans for upgrades.
“I think pretty much every team is pretty close to the limit this year,” the Briton addressed the tightened budget cap. “It’s very aggressive, so you’ve got to be very strategic in how you spend your funds on developments. “
“I think instead of just going as fast as you can and getting as much performance out of the car as you can, you have to be much more selective in your choices based on cost. That increases efficiency,” Horner said.
Binotto’s comments follow similar remarks from Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali, who said he had two concerns about the introduction of the budget cap in 2022: “The first is that of control, because if those who have to regulate overlook something, the whole system breaks down. “
FIA takes its control function particularly seriously
“Today it’s not enough to control only the technical side,” Domenicali knows, “but strict financial control is also required, and for this reason the FIA is equipping itself to be even more resilient in this role.”
“The second point relates to some variables that were difficult to predict when the financial rules were introduced. Inflation is moving in an unexpected direction and transport costs have also risen in recent weeks in a way that is difficult to predict,” the Formula One CEO points out.
“There will be discussions to find the right solutions, but at the heart of it is always the principle that we guarantee equal opportunities for all. “