Wolff reveals cost cap allowance after Mick’s ‘big’ crash

Michelle Foster
The rear of Mick Schumacher's shattered Haas. Saudi Arabia March 2022

The rear of Mick Schumacher's shattered Haas. Saudi Arabia March 2022

Hit with a $1 million repair bill for Mick Schumacher’s Jeddah crash, Toto Wolff says the cost cap “will be adjusted” for Haas.

Schumacher had a horror crash during qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the German clipping a kerb and smashing into the concrete barrier nose first.

Such was the impact that the momentum carried his car down to Turn 12 with the car breaking in half.

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner reckons it is about a $1 million worth of damage.

“I don’t know money-wise but between gearbox, the whole bodywork is gone, radiators are gone – $500,000 to $1million, I would say,” he told Motorsport.com.

That unexpected cost can really hurt a team these days given that Formula 1 is operating under a $140 million cost cap.

But according to Wolff, there is “an allowance” within the cap to adjust that figure for big crashes.

And Schumacher’s was just that, a “big” crash.

“You can say that a crash like Mick had falls into the category of a ‘big shunt’ and there is an allowance in the cost cap where if you need to build a new chassis, the cost cap will be adjusted for you,” the Mercedes motorsport boss explained as per GPFans.

The Austrian also weighed in on the layout of the circuit and whether it is too dangerous.

Several drivers spoke out after Schumacher’s accident, calling for changes to be made to the high-speed street circuit.

Wolff, though, says Formula 1 is “dangerous and city circuits are the spectacular ones, among the most spectacular ones and the drivers need to take more risks so you are always on the knifes edge.”

 

Schumacher did not line up on the Jeddah grid on the Sunday, Haas making the call not to risk another big crash that would impact their spares situation ahead of the trip to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix.

Steiner, though, did reveal that the team had set aside money in its budget for repairs, acknowledging that crashes happen.

“There’s a nominal amount,” said the team boss, “but in a racing team, you never can stick to your budget like in a normal commercial business because you have this risk.

“You have got obviously a contingency there. But if you have two or three like this, pretty quick your contingency is not there anymore.

“It’s a loss. So you just need to manage. Obviously I hope we don’t have a lot more of them.”

 

PlanetF1 verdict

 

Wolff reveals cost cap allowance for 'big' crashes

Toto Wolff has revealed an allowance in the cost cap for any 'big' crashes.