How the cost cap is putting new pressures on F1's top teams
Formula 1’s budget cap means that even the richest teams now have to juggle what they can afford to spend – to the extent that Mercedes recently had to back out of an important tyre test. MARK GALLAGHER explains how the bean-counters now have to work to the limits of the regulations just like technical directors do
In case you haven’t noticed, Mercedes is counting the pennies.
It first came to our attention during the controversy surrounding George Russell’s collision with Valtteri Bottas at Imola. The fall-out from that included Mercedes engineering director Andy Shovlin admitting the repair costs might have an impact on car development.
“This sort of damage isn’t really in the plan,” Shovlin revealed in the aftermath of the accident. “The bill in terms of carbon work and metalwork will be very extensive from that.”
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