Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto has urged the FIA to review the budget cap for the 2022 season, claiming that it has led to employee layoffs.
This comes after Binotto together with Red Bull boss Christian Horner, and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff expressed their concerns over the new $140 million cap this year, which is set out for development, damage repair, freight transportation, and man hours working on the F1 cars, among other things.
This is owing to inflation and the resulting increase in the cost of living, and Wolff revealed that Mercedes had to make some redundancies as a result of Brackley’s £4 million increase in energy expenditures.
The goal of the budget cap was to level the playing field so that the big F1 teams couldn’t just throw money at their car to make it go faster at every race; instead, they had to be more strategic. As a result, Binotto believes Ferrari will have to wait until the British Grand Prix next month to implement their next round of upgrades.
“I think the budget cap is dictating somehow what we can do,” he said ahead of the Monaco GP. “We need to certainly have a close look at it and not wasting our money, because we cannot simply do that.”
“I think we’ll bring upgrades when we have got a significant one… It will not come every single race that we will be bringing pieces.”
“On top of that, I think you can look at the next races. We’ve got Monaco where maybe you’re bringing a new front suspension for steering angle, and then later on, we’ve got Baku which is a city circuit.”
“So I think it will be around the UK where maybe some developments will arrive.”
The teams are allowed to go over budget by $7 million under the regulations, but the Italian is concerned that the FIA has not fully considered what will happen if the teams go above $140 million, especially as some teams may be compelled to lay off personnel.
“I think that there will be no way for us simply to, to stay below so, I’m pretty sure that at some stage we will go over,” said Binotto. “In the regulations, there is a threshold, which is a 5%.”
“If you do not exceed the 5%, on the top of what’s the budget cap threshold, it will be considered a minor breach and what’s a minor breach in case of force majeure? What will the stewards and the FIA decide on that, in terms of penalties?”
“No idea… but I don’t think there is any way for us and for many teams simply to stay within, and even laying off people, I don’t think that’s a good and right choice.”
Charles Leclerc, who is nine points behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship, has won two races for Ferrari in 2022.
Last weekend in Monaco, Leclerc finished fourth after starting on pole owing to a bad strategy in changing conditions, as Sergio Perez triumphed over Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull currently leads Ferrari by 36 points in the constructors championship as Formula 1 heads into this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, thanks to Perez’s victory and Verstappen’s third-place finish in Monaco.
