Christian Horner, the stable director of Red Bull, fears that many Formula 1 stables will not be able to stay within budget given high inflation.
Seven of the teams will probably have to miss the last four races to reach the limit this year, Horner says of the budget cap introduced this year.
Horner believes more than half of F1’s 10 stables will have problems keeping costs down – and the reason is higher prices.
– It’s not just about the big stables. Even the stables in the middle of the summary are struggling hard with inflation, Horner says, according to the BBC ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix in Monaco.
– Increased electricity bills and the cost of living and costs in general. Formula 1 is no exception. Shipping rates have quadrupled and we have no control over them.
The FIA calls
This year, Formula 1 has a budget cap per fixed of $140 million – equivalent to about SEK 1.3 billion. The limit was introduced last year to make competition between teams more fair and according to the plan, the amount will be lower in 2023.
Christian Horner believes the FIA should review the problem.
Red Bull is backed by rivals Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren – all teams with big budgets. But the budget cap didn’t hit all stables hard, and according to the BBC, Alfa Romeo, Alpine, Haas and Williams voted against a modification a month ago.
Alpine stable manager Otmar Szafnauer says they are expecting inflation in the 2022 budget.
‘Unexpected inflation’
Inflation was not unexpected. If we can do that, others can do it too. I’m not just to raise the roof.
At the moment, Red Bull leads the constructors’ championship ahead of Ferrari. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen He leads the Drivers’ Championship in front of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
On Sunday, the Monaco GP, the seventh of the 22 races of the Formula 1 season, will run.