Ferrari warns F1 will ‘die’ without budget cap

Jamie Woodhouse
Sebastian-Vettel-leads-Charles-Leclerc-PA

Sebastian-Vettel-leads-Charles-Leclerc-PA

Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri says his company’s F1 team support the budget cap and have made “sacrifices” to help the smaller teams, because without doing so F1 would “slowly die”.

From 2021 the sport will introduce new financial, technical and sporting regulations aimed at making F1 more competitive but also financially sustainable.

A major part of that will be the $175million-per-season budget cap that will come into force, a cap which Ferrari could have vetoed but chose not to, seeing it as an important part of F1’s future.

The 2020 season will see teams managing two projects as they aim to be competitive in that campaign while also preparing for 2021, and Ferrari have already confirmed that they have increased their budget significantly for this.

But, at the same time Camilleri says Ferrari have made “sacrifices” to help the smaller teams, while he also thinks the negotiations for 2021 have helped to create a fairer financial landscape for F1 – the series wants to return to more of a unified Concorde Agreement as opposed to the individual team deals which affects the share of wealth.

He also hopes going forward that the budget cap can be widened to cover more costs – under the current plans engine development, driver salaries, and wages for the company’s top three earners will be exempt.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Camilleri said: “I think we’ve reached a relatively good compromise in terms of the cost cap, which today applies to the chassis.

“We’ve been in favour of it because we think it’s good for the economic sustainability of Formula 1.

“In time that budget cap should encompass more of the car, the power units, the drivers as well, various other things. Because ultimately if the sport is not economically viable, it’s slowly going to die.

“So, we viewed it as our responsibility to ensure that it will be economically viable. And in doing so, I have to say that we have and others, that we principally have made certain sacrifices, so that the smaller teams would get more money.

“We’re not quite there yet on many details, but I think in terms of the actual principles, we are essentially OK.

“When you have 10 teams with all sorts of different views, there will always be continued discussion.”

Ferrari will see their heritage bonus cut under the new deal. Their previous arrangement meant they were the highest-paid team in F1, but Camilleri says Ferrari’s history in F1 makes it important to look after everyone’s interests.

“This year was critical in terms of trying to finalise the Concorde Agreement and the various chapters of the financial regulations and technical regulations,” he explained.

“And then, there’s the governance aspects. And I think there’s been significant progress.

“We as Ferrari have taken very much a leadership role because of our history, because of the importance of Formula 1 to Ferrari.

“I’m quite confident that an agreement will be reached by all in the best interest of everybody.

“My experience in the past on other things, other businesses, is that when you get competitors, it’s always very difficult to match everybody’s intentions. But ultimately, they do see the benefit all around.

“Mattia [Binotto, team principal] in particular, has played a leadership role with the FIA, with the other teams. So, I think we’re quite pleased with the progress on that front.”

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