Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted the crashes it sustained towards the end of the 2024 season saw the team come “very close” to breaching Formula 1’s budget cap.
To date, Mercedes has complied with the cost cap on each occasion since it was introduced in 2021, but several shunts as last season drew to a close created unease.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli endured a massive high-speed accident at Monza as he overstepped the mark on his second-timed run during his debut F1 appearance in FP1.
The Italian’s incident preceded George Russell, who will partner Antonelli in 2025, crashing twice on successive weekends at the United States and Mexican Grands Prix.
Wolff revealed that Russell’s impact in FP2 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez had placed Mercedes in “serious trouble” with the sport’s $135 million spending threshold.
The Austrian proceeded to reveal post-race in Mexico that Russell’s errors would cause the team to have to get “creative” with car parts on the W15 over the remaining races.
“I love a driver to push and I’d rather crash him and we know what the car is capable of doing than not,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“The cost cap plan nevertheless is a tricky situation. So these three chunks put us on a back foot. Certainly, the one that happened before yesterday was massive.
“We had to change, we had to opt for a completely new chassis. There is a tremendous hit in the cost cap and we probably have to dial down on what we put on the car.
“We have certain limitation on parts where we need to be creative.”
Mercedes confident it remained within cost cap
But while he has reiterated his concern over Mercedes adhering to the permitted budget, Wolff is convinced the German marque will be found to have remained within the limit.
When asked how close Mercedes came to exceeding the cost cap allowance in 2024, Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport: “Very close. You can’t build up a big nest egg.
“It’s more the case that you overshoot at the beginning of the year and then start to save.
“At the end of the year, we had to do without some upgrades in aerodynamics and mechanics because there was simply no money left to produce the corresponding parts.
“The accidents at the end of the season really get you into trouble. Kimi in Monza, George in Austin and Mexico. At one point we only had one set of a certain type of wing.
“In Mexico we couldn’t go back to the old aero specification because there were no spares available. There was no money left within the cost limit for new ones.”
Wolff supports restriction on spending
The budget cap appeared to have started achieving the desired impact in 2024 as, combined with a mature regulation set, four teams took victories as the pack converged.
Wolff has also noted how a restriction being imposed on how much the bigger teams can spend has contributed to even the smaller sides becoming “profitable” organisations.
Pressed on whether he is still supportive towards the cost cap, Wolff responded: “Definitely. Because it has made the teams profitable and therefore the sport sustainable.”
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