trinidefender wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021, 19:43
mwillems wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021, 11:06
trinidefender wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021, 03:08
The cap is still set quite high. Probably the only teams who are at the spending limit are mercedes, red bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault.
Primarily this limit on CFD/wind tunnel time is more about keeping the teams closer together. Sure we are going into a new set of regulations but still, a team that is further up the grid can generally move resources over to 2022 earlier, a close championship position battle not withstanding.
Take Mercedes for example. They were so far ahead last season that they probably started development on this season earlier than everyone else. That means they will probably be further ahead at the start of this season and can put more resources into 2022.
Would you want to go into a completely new regulations generational change that we haven't seen since 2009 for mercedes to just walk away with the championship again? I don't.
Isn't it $145m now? That's less than half of what Merc of Ferrari would spend on their non engine related activites isn't it?
I see your point, Merc will have an advantage from shifting development early, but then I would think almost every team is going to divert almost all of their resource to 2022 now anyway, but what you say does make sense, although I think it may harm Mclaren a little.
Pre-covid McLaren stated that they were very happy with the cap at 175 million. If I remember correctly it wasn't directly stated but looking at various numbers and team statements it seemed as if that cap + whatever else doesn't fall under it almost perfectly matched their then current expenditure anyway.
There are large expenditures that the cap doesn't cover.
Considering loss of resources as a result of covid the reduction to 145 million (140 million for 2022 and 135 for 2023) only makes sense. Also I imagine that all of teams have been hit by budget decreases even if they weren't meeting the 145 million which means that it shouldn't affect McLaren too much.
At the end of the day this budget cap really is for the good of the sport.
I completely agree. I feel that with the regulations trying to reduce the reliance on downforce and with the budget cap making it easier for teams to compete and for some teams to turn a profit. Even Merc have openly come out and said they see these regulations as an opportunity to create an F1 franchise.
Mclaren racing, for instance, turned over record revenues in 2019 of £189m, which is $261m. This will include the Indycar series of course so it isn't all F1 but it mostly is, it shows that Mclaren is now in a position to be a top team again.
I do really think that if the new regs do work as we hope, that we could be approaching another golden era for Formula 1. If only we could ban some of the steering wheel adjustments and minimise the in-lap changes to the setup and bring some of the drivers talents more to the fore too.