F1: Second team boss eyes budget cap increase

(GMM) A second Formula 1 team boss thinks the sport may need to pivot to adjust to the latest alarming global developments.

Inflation, for instance, is sharply on the rise amid the post-covid era and the alarming situation in Ukraine, resulting in Russian oil and gas sanctions and skyrocketing prices.

That’s bad news for F1, which is in the midst of a tightening budget cap limit which dropped from $145 million per team last year to just $140m in 2022.

“We can already see the consequences on air freight prices,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said last week.

Now, his counterpart at McLaren, Andreas Seidl, agrees that making some adjustments to the financial settings in F1 may be appropriate.

“It is important in this situation to show common sense with all of this extra data we now have after the last few weeks,” he is quoted by France’s Auto Hebdo.

“It is important that we have a discussion about this and see what makes sense.”

Like Horner, Seidl admits that an upwards adjustment to the budget cap may be the answer.

“We all have the same objective, which is to stay on course,” said the German.

“But with this unexpected new situation, we are totally open to dialogue in order to find solutions and make changes accordingly, within the limits of reason and what is possible.”