Emotions can’t dictate the decision-making process – Binotto
While Ferrari’s Team Principal Mattia Binotto is supporting Formula 1 and the FIA in its tireless effort to re-arrange the 2020 F1 championship, he warns to introduce measures in the heat of the moment.
In order to promote the sport’s financial stability, the sport has postponed the introduction of the major technical overhaul until 2022 and decided to retain the 2020 race cars for the forthcoming season. The cost cap, scheduled for 2021, has been retained though. The budget limit has been set at $175m (€157m) per year, covering a team’s expenditure which relates directly to the race car’s performance.
While McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown is trying to persuade the sport’s key actors to lower the cost cap of which introduction is scheduled for 2021, Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto is reluctant to make too many changes in the heat of the moment.
“We are fully aware of the difficulties of some teams and we are fully aware we need to address costs for the future of F1 - reducing costs is the first driver of making sure every single team is surviving,” he said during an interview with Sky Sports.
Binotto emphasized the fact that F1 teams operate differently, applying various approaches and operating models. While the sport’s works teams Ferrari, Mercedes, and Renault construct most of the parts of their cars on their own, outfits like Haas or Racing Point purchase many parts from partner teams. Ferrari boss stressed that the different approach needed to be taken into consideration when defining the budget cap.
“We are obviously discussing with the F1, FIA and the teams a budget cap reduction, but we should not forget when doing that exercise that we’ve got different structures, we’ve got different assets. There are teams that are constructors, as Ferrari and other top teams, where we are designing, developing, homologating and producing each single component of our cars.
“Other teams are customers, they are buying some parts and not having the same structure obviously because they are not designing, developing, etc all those components. So I think when discussing a budget cap, we should not forget that we’ve got different situations, and it’s important that we find a common ground which is suiting to the different situations, and maybe the answer is not a single budget cap equal for all the teams.”
The Swiss-Italian admitted it was important to maintain the DNA of Formula 1 that allows car constructors to compete at the highest level.
“There is still, let me say, analysis that is required to make the right decisions. We should avoid being emotional at the moment. We know that we will face a difficult situation, but we need to maintain what is the DNA, the essence of F1 which is the competition. So it is important to know the details and make a rational decision that has been based on considerations and not emotions,” he concluded.
