Williams F1 owner Frank Williams remarked that “the budget caps represent a serious challenge for some of the teams.”
“No comments,” was the common refrain from most of Formula One teams in reaction to World Motor Sports Council’s (WMSC) decision to introduce an optional budget cap of 40 million pounds from next year. The reaction was obvious considering that the budgets of big teams run into hundreds of millions and slashing the budget to 40 million pounds is simply unthinkable.
Williams F1 owner Frank Williams remarked that “the budget caps represent a serious challenge for some of the teams.” All the teams are now waiting for the May 6 Formula One Team Association (FOTA) meeting to react to FIA’s proposal.
The decision was made at a WMSC meeting in Paris on Thursday. Though the budget cap is optional, the teams adhering to it will get plenty of benefits so as to remain competitive with those teams who will opt out of it. Two of the major benefits include an engine which is not subject to a rev limit and unlimited out-of-season track testing with no restrictions on the scale and speed of wind tunnel testing. Also on the cards is the doubling of KERS power for these teams.
Though all the teams have been unanimous about the need for introducing cost-cutting measures, there is a perception that the reduction to 40 million pounds is too drastic.
There are teams with a budget in excess of 200 million dollars whose staff strength runs into hundreds. “It will be impossible to sustain the team set-up with such a budget. If we adhere to the cap, many people will be left without jobs,” an official from one of the big-spending teams told DNA. Though he remarked that FOTA hadn’t reached an ideal figure to operate, it was clear that a sudden drop to 40 million pounds was too steep.
Another official, who requested anonymity, said that the WMSC decision could have been influenced by its eagerness to bring in more teams on the grid. “After Honda’s pullout, FIA thought that the best way to keep the sport in good health was to allow more teams to compete.”
WMSC has decided to increase the number of cars from 20 to 26 which means three more teams will enter Formula One next year. These teams have reportedly been offered 10 million dollars and free air tickets as incentives.
The official though added that there was a danger of the championship next year getting determined by different set of rules. If the ‘capped’ teams don’t perform well, the FIA may further change the rules to make the sport more ‘competitive.’
The FOTA meet, therefore, has assumed huge proportions. It may perhaps test the unity of FOTA itself as smaller teams may look at the WMSC decision from a different perspective. One thing is clear. The battle of wits between FOTA and FIA has begun.
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