FIA’s Single Seater Director Nikolas Tombazis believes that whilst Formula 1’s cost cap has helped curb spending, teams struggle to throw money at improving an underperforming car.
The F1 cost cap was introduced in the 2021 season for the first time in the sport’s history, limiting teams’ spending to $145 million.
This went down to $140 million in 2022 -when a new set of ground effect technical regulations were introduced – and $135 million in 2023.
Save for the dominant Red Bull, a combination of cost-cap and redefined technical regulations has seen teams converge in terms of performance, with the majority of the pack separated by marginal amounts.
But for the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes, a consequence of the cost cap means overhauling the deficit to Red Bull is a long and arduous process, as Tombazis explained to Autosport.
“The problem with the financial regulations is, on the one hand, they do mean that somebody can’t spend three times more than somebody else, which is good,” he said.
“But on the other hand, they do also mean that if you’re behind somebody, you can’t just throw everything at it and make an upgrade.
“In older times, some teams would occasionally start a season and be in a really quite bad place, because they would have maybe messed up the project or concept or whatever.
“They arrive and are humiliated for the first few races.
“I’ve been involved in such a situation, but then you just make a massive upgrade package for Barcelona for Canada or something, and you’d virtually redesign the whole car like crazy for three or four months and then be winning races during the season.
“The [current] financial regulations limit the amount of upgrades you can do.
“So, if somebody is further back, the recovery can be quite long and painful.”
For some, the cost cap has limited a mid-season turnaround.
McLaren was able to introduce an upgraded spec of car at the Austrian Grand Prix after admitting it had headed down a dead-end during winter development, prompting a strong run of results including several podiums during the second half of the season.
AlphaTauri is also another team that has performed a turnaround of sorts in 2023, employing a car concept in Singapore that reflected that of sister team Red Bull.
This helped haul the Faenza-based outfit from the foot of the Constructors’ standings to eighth by the end of the season, falling only three points shy of Williams.
However, for others, the cost-cap means that gains are a long-term process, with the likes of Williams implementing a single development package early on in the season in favour of developing its 2024 spec car.
The difficulties in navigating the cost cap whilst chasing an improvement in performance have prompted some to propose an opening up of the technical regulations.
However, Tombazis feels that whilst that would of course be beneficial to the free-thinking technical minds of F1 engineers, it could lead to disparities in performance that would see the grid spread apart.
“There is a fine line between too much limitation – and clearly this is a technological sport, and has to remain so,” he added.
“But on that side, with too much freedom, there is then potentially very big gaps between the cars, and that’s a very difficult line to follow.
“Clearly, if you ask an engineer from a team they will say it’s too much limitation.
“I’m an engineer myself, I would love it if all cars were a complete technological battle.
“But we do need to consider that other factors at play are important for the sport.
“Additionally, compared to the older days, when maybe there was a bit more freedom, we have financial regulations and we have to also try to limit some of the activities that take place.
“Otherwise, you could have teams building some advantage through an R&D project of some sort, and then having an advantage for a long, long time to come, with no chance of other teams catching up with restrictive regulations.
“So, there’s this line between freedom and having a competitive championship, plus the financial regulations put us in a very small spot.
“So, I don’t think there’s a perfect answer.”
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