F1 delays 'crucial' budget cap decision

F1 could lose 3 or 4 Friday morning track cleaning backmarker teams

(GMM) F1 has delayed making a decision about how to proceed with further cost cutting measures amid the coronavirus crisis.

With several teams – now including Renault – having furloughed staff, a debate is raging about how severely to further reduce the planned 2021 budget cap from $175 million.

"On Thursday we had a meeting with just the big teams," FIA president Jean Todt told Auto Motor und Sport.

"The crucial meeting was supposed to take place on Friday, but we have postponed it until next week. It's better to wait a week longer and get a better result."

It is believed that while Mercedes is open to reducing the cap below $150 million, Red Bull and Ferrari are resisting.

"The whole thing is failing at the moment and quite frankly it's because of Ferrari," former driver Christian Danner told RTL.

"Ferrari doesn't care about the other nine teams at all. Below them, everyone is making cuts because the water is up to their necks."

Todt admitted that some teams may not make it through the crisis.

"We cannot rule it out," he said, "but I hope we don't get into that situation. In the worst scenario, Formula 1 as we know it today would no longer be possible.

"So it's a time now to think, to reorder values, to set priorities. We are now realizing for the first time how vulnerable we are."