Breaking news
Formula 1
Mercedes: Cost cap makes big accidents "quite a concern"
Mercedes believes large accidents, such as Valtteri Bottas' sizeable Imola crash, could also have a knock-on effect on the team's development due to Formula 1's new budget cap.
Edited: Apr 28, 2021, 8:03 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
This year, F1 introduced an annual $145 million cost cap, followed by a further $5 million year-on-year reduction in subsequent seasons.
The cap meant F1's largest teams have had to downsize to operate as close to the spending limit as possible, with little margin for unforeseen costs such as accident damage.
When F1 teams agreed to trial three sprint races this season an additional budget cap allowance - understood to be around $500,000 - was a key factor in getting the sprint race plan across the line.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix crash involving Williams driver George Russell and Bottas - whose Mercedes W12 was all but written off - illustrated Mercedes' fresh concerns on crash damage compromising the rest of the team's budget.
"The new factor for us this year is that we're all cost capped," Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained.
"This sort of damage isn't really in the plan. Our drivers have been incredibly good at getting through seasons without breaking much in recent years, and certainly the bill in terms of carbon work and metal work will be very extensive from that.
"So, we'll go through and look at what we can actually salvage and get the cars back together for Portimao. But it is quite a concern when you have these sorts of incidents."
Read Also:
- Bottas: No gentleman’s agreement broken in Russell crash
- Bottas crash damage could cost Mercedes F1 upgrade push
- Russell insists Bottas crash won’t harm Mercedes relationship
Team principal Toto Wolff said that the Brackley team "always feared a total write-off of a car" because it is operating so close to the cost cap, a painful exercise which involved letting some staff go over the off-season.
Shovlin explained that expensive crashes would mean the team needs to cut spending elsewhere, which could affect its car development programme.
"If you have a series of these kind of large accidents that are doing significant damage, then that will definitely exceed our allocation for what we have available to spend on the parts," Shovlin added.
"In an ideal world you run them to life, you don't break them, anything that you do break, hopefully it's end of life or something that is about to be obsolete. But that is definitely not the case here.
"So, it is really a factor of the cost cap and the money has got to come from somewhere.
"Ultimately if it becomes a big problem, it can start to hit your development budget. So, we do need to be mindful of that moving forward."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why Hamilton didn’t break F1’s rules for reversing on track
Next article Ricciardo had to "swallow pride" in Imola swap with Norris
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valtteri Bottas
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Formula 1
Canadian GP
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
More from
Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
48 min
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP
Latest news
LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
16 min
LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates
Kyle Larson wins 2026 NASCAR Cup championship with Stage 1 clinch at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
21 min
Kyle Larson wins 2026 NASCAR Cup championship with Stage 1 clinch at Homestead
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
48 min
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe