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The shit seems to be hitting the fan in terms of the smaller teams unwilling to agree with mainly Ferrari and Red Bull Bull, who are seeking adjustments related to increased inflation and increased costs resulting from the conflict in Ukraine, citing 'force majeure'.In particular Alfa Haas and Alpine are digging in deep, suggesting that inflation was already high when they set their budgets at the end of last year. They all say the writing was on the wall and they knew habits of old would have to be reigned in to meet the objectives. They made sacrifices early knowing the difficulties ahead were not going to disappear.
I have to say I agree with the smaller teams on this one. Vasseur of Alfa summed it up well, saying his team, on seeing costs escalating faster than anticipated made early decisions to not bring updates to every race and not run their wind tunnel so much.
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer is of a similar view.“For me, it’s absolutely not a case of force majeure, because inflation is not a case of force majeure,” reasoned Frederic Vasseur, Alfa Romeo Sauber team boss.
“We knew perfectly in November or October, when we did the budget, that we will have inflation.
“I think that at one stage that we have to agree on the fact that we won’t try to change the rule.”
Alfa Romeo Sauber is one of the teams which has not had to trim its operation in order to meet the budget cap, and is instead working up to the $140 million figure – which is set to become $135 million next year.
It gives Vasseur a different perspective to the likes of Christian Horner and Mattia Binotto at Red Bull and Ferrari respectively, who’ve both had to drastically reduce their costs since the introduction of the financial regulations last year.
“The difference is that we are not speaking about budget cap, we are speaking about budgets on our side,” Vasseur noted.
“It means that I won’t be able to overspend what I have.
“And I can understand their situation, but if we have some increase on the energy or freight, the best solution is to switch off the wind tunnel, to stop to bring updates every single weekend.
“We are in this situation, and sooner or later we will have to stop the development of the car because we will be at the limit of our budget.
“I think everybody can do the same.”
With the way decisions have to be made I think 80% of the teams have to agree to any change. It seems that wont happen. Horner is bleating that teams might have to miss races to meet the budget cap. As I said previously that isnt going to happen. Are Red Bull going to sit at home while others race, watching there championship lead be eroded? Not a chance.
Interesting times ahead I feel. Something is going to have to give. The difference is I think that the smaller teams are not in effect having to change the way they have historically operated.... their meeting the cost cap is not in the same ballpark as the major teams who have had to cut costs by 50% or more. At the end of the day that is what the budget cap was always aimed at achieving, and the numbers arrived at were as a result of months of discussion and ultimate agreement of all the teams.
This is an article with no paywall or restrictions on views (can be read by all) which explains the current situation well.
https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/06/04/ri ... -increase/