The sport needs to find a balance with the cost cap, say team bosses

With the sport assessing a new cost cap ceilling and structure for the near future, Formula One team bosses called for finding a balance when defining the potential restrictions.

Formula One introduced a cost cap in 2021 which limits the amount a team can spend on their car within a year. The cap is currently in its fourth season of implementation, with teams capped at spending $135 million, as will be the case for next season before changes are introduced the following year.

It has recently emerged that the sport is assessing a significant change to the structure of the cost cap. The maximum amount might increase, but more items could be added to the list that forms the restrictions.

Generally, any expenditure related to car – but not engines – performance is relevant for the cost cap. It includes all parts on the car, all the elements needed to run the car, most of the team personnel, garage equipment, spares, transport costs.

Speaking of the potential changes, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said that the sport needs to carefully analyse how it tweaks the cost cap for the future.

"I think it's a matter of striking a balance. I mean, I think there's been a huge amount of learning through the cost cap. And I think that what I think is the most important thing for 2026 is that the employees don't bear the brunt of those changes. So I think there's a sensible discussion about what's being included, what is to remain excluded and what actually is relevant to creating performance.

"For example, does a Christmas party actually make your car go faster? Now, if that is to be included in the cap, of course, every technical director is going to want a front wing as opposed to a Christmas party, which is a bit tight. And so it's finding that balance. I'm not saying that our technical director doesn't like Christmas parties, but he likes front wings.

"So it's finding that kind of balance where the employees aren't the ones that bear the brunt of this. But I think, by and large, it's been a very productive and sensible discussion. It's finding that balance between what are exclusions and what is included within that higher number.

Kick Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi claimed that the FIA needs to close down any opportunities of teams deliberately interpreting the restrictions differently.

"I think that during the past three, four years of implementation, we have learned quite a lot, you know. Also, how this is applied in different areas. And I think that the target will be to avoid areas that can have different interpretation from the teams, especially, you know, the definition of F1 or non-F1 activities that are a sensible one.

"The target is to have a level playing field, you know, especially in the car build departments. So all these learnings that we had during these years, I think that can be summarised in the new regulation. It’s an opportunity for all of us to have a clear framework.

The Italian emphasized the sport needs to take into consideration that countries operate with different costs, stressing that his own team is based in Switzerland where costs are significantly higher than in Italy or the UK where rivals teams are based.

"And I think for teams like ourselves it will be important to introduce an element that can, I would say, equalise differences in terms of cost of life, because of course there is a kind of discrepancy between the cost in Switzerland and in other countries, and I think that we should put all the teams at the same level, at least as a starting point, and so the difference will be the ability of the people and the quality of the work not other factors that can negatively affect this starting point," added Bravi.