The 2022 Formula 1 season that kicks off in a month in Bahrain will see teams grappling with the brand new ground-effect single-seaters, even with the financial limits imposed by the budget cap.
The spending cap, introduced last year, has dropped from 145 to 140 million pounds for 2022, but according to Toto Wolff it will not be just this element that will create great headaches for all the teams.
According to the Mercedes team principal, in fact, even the highest inflation levels will make it very difficult to operate within the expected spending limits and if a team discovers that they have followed a wrong technical trend it will be very difficult to modify the current project.
The teams, with the introduction of the budget cap, were forced to cut staff or move them to projects outside of Formula 1.
“It has been very, very difficult to structure the action and the organization in the right way to meet the expected spending ceiling of $ 140 million,” Wolff told a specific question from Motorsport.com.
“In addition to this, we are confronted with a very high inflation rate. We have not only been forced to reduce the overall budget by 5 million for this season, but we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot increase the expenses on the payroll and this is very painful ”.
“You also have to decide very carefully where to invest your money in research and development. In the past it was a little easier because you could study various solutions to find the performance, while today you have to decide which one has the most potential and go that way. For large teams it is a totally different way of operating “.
George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Wolff then wanted to underline how complex it could be for a team to face a season with a car that is the result of a wrong regulation interpretation.
“With the introduction of the budget cap it will be really difficult to radically intervene on the car. All expenses are planned, each update and related costs are planned. We have many more limits in our ability to bring creative ideas to the car ”.
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