How F1 Teams OUTPLAYED the Budget Cap!

#f1news #mercedes #totowolff

The budget restriction was designed to ensure equality in Formula 1. However, by the third year, it is clear that there are too many loopholes through which only the best teams benefit. Let's show how the development was hidden from the finance books and how the teams are cheating in the cost cap era.

[stephensegal]

As a child being raised in a racing family, it was explained to me that F1 was the best and purest form of racing because other than basic criteria such as engine displacement or wheelbase, or minimum weight, all aspects of design and development were left to interpretation. That meant that Whomever was the most creative and innovative could gain a big advantage, and if you were not winning, it was because you simply hadn't done the work.
Now it seems like it has been burdened with rule upon rule upon rule through the Eckelstone era, and now We are stuck with 19 foot long cars with crap spec tires that literally weigh a ton. What happened?

[jankempynck]

I want to add to my previous comment :The Aston Martin Valkyrie for example was an 2018 idea of ex Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer (not in F1 at that time) who sponsored the RB team, designed by Adrian Newey, long before the budget cap. This car’s budget comes completely from Aston cars, surpassed 3 times the initial planned budget and has nothing to do with the RB F1 budget, it was only a dream from Andrey Newey to build a street legal car. These cars have been ordered by rich customers and had to be build. The same for the Mercedes AMG-project One car, they cost a lot of money and has to be built, because customer prepaid an order. The Ferrari Hypercar for Lemans had to be build and Ferrari needed to win, what they also did in Le Mans 2023. This car costed also a lot of money, so it is not by building these cars that F1 teams cheat the F1 budget cap. No, it is by using the tricks that I explained in my previous comment.

[AeroKittens]

RB breached cost cap by $400k not £1.8 m... FIA agreed that tax rebate wasn't applied

[FullContactDrummer]

They can’t fine other teams which go over the cap more for the same overage as RB. That would not be fair to other teams if they go over. That’s like allowing RB to cheat at a discount.

[Ehm]

I think Ferrari are the last ones to talk here. They suddenly developed a hypercar that won Le Mans on the first go. I consider this car to be the development model for the F1 car. This car can run mile after mile around the Marenello track with F1 bits fitted and no one the wiser. And no cost added to the F1 budget and not breaking the testing on track rule. I’m quite sure Ferrari are doing this. Maybe they should keep very quiet when talking about budget cap spending.

[Dimesca]

Redbull was actually 400k over the cap. 0.37%

[AeroKittens]

Nah, you got it wrong... Its all in the open, but in case you don't know.. RB is just an energy drinks company and produces by far the least amount of hyper/super/race cars compared to Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo and even Renault who all are traditional super/hyper car manufacturers with easy means of transferring tech/aero info to f1. Its a no brainer really...

[jockdee]

Does the performance difference between the Redbull and the Alpha tauri seem a bit suspicious to anyone else?. I wonder just how much of the Alpha Tauri budget Redbull has used this season

[hmnnpkn]

As Vasseur claims that personnell cost are the biggest chunk of the costs its logical that being creative on the personell side is a very effective way to extend the budget and I am sure that all teams are doing it in some way. When the parent compagny produces cars its quite easy and within the writen rules . So there's more money leftover for development than Vasseur claims (also at Ferrari but they don't seem to put it to good use).

[IIGrayfoxII]

Ferrari does have a customer car.
The FXX.
It is a TRACK ONLY CAR.

[jonathoncroft]

I always thought the rb17 with f1 chassis and f1 suspension and ground effects announced after budget cap happened fia says got no right to look at hypercars design or testing they could run there wind tunnel testing f1 parts on there hypercar do 20 to 30 tests on hypercar finding the best solution and do few tests on actual f1 wind tunnel car to make sure and show how you designed the parts you can see on the red bull floor how devolved it is compared to all outher cars each curve eash fin would of needed to be wind tunnel tested to me it always looked like used twice as much wind tunnel time to develop it.

[MENQN]

I think Redbull had to cheat for Max to get a good car but its a bit too over developed that Mercedes cannot go near them its a shame because Hamilton would be all over Maxs rear wing

[winstonsfootballjourney]

It seems like some wants a Soviet system and no real development. (Equal für allez)

[jankempynck]

The special cars, that you speak about are not the point at all, it is not that the F1 can learn from road cars, special limited editions or even Le Mans cars, it is the opposite, these cars learns from the F1. It is not the development of this cars that result in cheating the budget cap. I will explain the real cheating:
Mercedes has a sponsor Ineos. A lot of Mercedes personnel are inscribed and so payed by Ineos (sponsoring) to design boats, but in fact they design F1 parts. I know a lot of Mercedes engineers personally who have to work for Ineos but work for F1, but you can understand that I cannot give their names. These costs are not add to the F1 budget. This is the biggest scam of F1 concerning budget. It is Mercedes that shouts the RB has surpassed the budget cap. The last 3 years 2021, 2022, 2023, Mercedes made not only a lot of expensive upgrades, but complete new designs, new chassis even up to 3 times a year. It is impossible to do that within the budget cap. Mercedes has the Ineos trick, but also the Mercedes car department to let develop and test F1 parts.
Ferrari from the group Stellantis (Ferrari, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel, Jeep etc…) has even a bigger choice for developing F1 parts outside the budget cap. REDBULL is not a car manufacturer, so they cannot use these tricks. RB have been punished although the others surpassed the RB budget with ease. Last year I wrote a letter to the FIA to prove who is cheating and now I see finally the results. Rules are OK, but they must be applied to everyone and equally.

[itsmechrispy]

weird a energy drink company is making a hyper but no they cant be cheating since its redbull they would never!!