Why the F1 budget cap 2021 does not have equal opportunities

With five races remaining in the 2021 Formula 1 season, it is a race for the championship with two teams and two drivers.

And unfortunately this is nothing new for fans of the other eight teams and the other 18 drivers.

This season, Mercedes and Red Bull have literally lapped the rest of the field again. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will likely fight for the top spot for the rest of the season, but only third-placed Valtteri Bottas is mathematically alive in the drivers’ standings – and even Bottas could be mathematically eliminated if the checkered flag flies in the next race in Mexico- City on November 7th.

It has been more than a decade since the third-placed team in the final standings was only 50 points away from the champions of the F1 standings at the end of the season. In 2010, Red Bull (Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber), Ferrari (Fernando Alonso) and Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton) all finished the championship within 16 points. Since then, however, it has been a one- or two-driver race with everyone else battling it out for the “Best of the Rest” awards.

Max Verstappen (pictured) and Lewis Hamilton together won 13 of 17 races in 2021. They are the only two drivers with a realistic chance of a championship with five races remaining.

Chris GraythenGetty Images

The average difference between the first and third place in the final ranking over the last 10 years is 127 points. A race win is worth 25 points (1 bonus point for the fastest lap of the race). You get the picture. That is certainly a considerable loophole.

This year the gap from first to third place with five remaining races is already 102.5 points. The gap is well on its way to slightly surpassing the average gap for the past decade.

Wait.

Wasn’t that the year a team budget cap was supposed to bring the field closer together? Wasn’t this the year we should see more teams fighting for victories? Instead, it was more of the same, with Verstappen and Hamilton taking 13 wins together in their first 17 races. In one of these four defeats, Verstappen and Hamilton fell each other.

Sorry, F1 isn’t becoming NASCAR or IndyCar anytime soon. Don’t hold your breath or wait for a season where five or six drivers are still in the middle of a championship with legitimate title chances in the final two or three races of the season.

It will take some time for the mid-packers in F1 to close the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull, admit two team bosses who have got used to looking at the mega-teams in the table. And there are some obvious reasons, say the Aston Martin and Alpine team principals.

Aston Martins Otmar Szafnauer finds his team seventh in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship, 398 points behind front runner Mercedes.

JIM WATSONGetty Images

Take the 2021 cars, for example.

“These cars were originally developed without the cost cap that you see in racing today,” said Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer. “Then we froze (the regulations) for this season, apart from some aerodynamic changes the FIA ​​made due to COVID.

“Next year’s car (has) completely different technical (regulations) and is being developed below a cost cap, as well as a cap where we reduce dyno times and aerodynamic runs. So I think that in itself should bring the competition closer together Let’s see what happens next year, it’s not that far. I think the field will be much tighter in 2022. “

The current team budget cap of $ 145 million (a cap with multiple loopholes and exceptions) has resulted in the big three of the sport, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari having to tighten their belts. All three are believed to have operated on budgets nearly $ 400 million, if not more than $ 400 million (the actual numbers have long been a closely guarded secret). Despite the cuts, these teams will long continue to enjoy the benefits of years of spending more than double the budgets of the second and third tier teams.

“You have spent a lot of money in the past on building the infrastructure,” said Szafnauer. “All of this has a great cumulative effect. You just add, add, add – better simulation facilities, better test rigs, better wind tunnels, upgrading the wind tunnels, it all adds up. “

Sportswire iconGetty Images

Then there is the personnel part of the equation.

“If you compare us, we now have around 575 employees and we are growing,” said Szafnaur. “We started three years ago and were at 400. We added. Mercedes still has 800 to 900 employees. So they have almost twice as many employees as we do, plus all the infrastructure they have.” accumulated over time.

“Well, where they are spending their money and how much money they are spending (in the future), that is limited. But they have the infrastructure and they have the human resources that we are still working on but not yet have.”

Alpine Race Director Laurent Rossi agrees it will be tame to catch up with the big boys and go head-to-head with the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull.

“The cost cap will help,” said Rossi. “Enormously. But the sum that has been spent in the last 10 or 15 years will not be immediately wiped out again, wiped out. Anyone who has a better wind tunnel, a better simulator, better models will still have that at the beginning (the next generation of F1 cars in 2022).

“The difference is that (Mercedes and Red Bull) won’t be able to throw money at problems like they used to, spend twice as much and all the intelligence and whatever. Still, (the cap) will help people to catch them. ” get up because more teams get a chance but there will always be a little difference, maybe by 2030 we get to the point, that won’t be a problem anymore, but in the beginning it will always be easier like that, a Mercedes or a To be Red Bull. “

Aside from the team budget cap, Rossi is also delighted with the new formulas for distributing the sport’s prize money, developed by Liberty Media, which guarantee a fairer division of the cake. He says this will go a long way towards stabilizing the sport.

“When costs are limited, revenues are in some ways unlimited,” said Rossi. “Everyone spends the same amount and nobody really loses their jersey. Maybe next year another team wins, it’s a smaller team and the nine others that don’t win are still okay. They aren’t” at risk to disappear so they can build up in the medium or long term.

“That gives you, like American football. Any team can win, not just the giants (Editor’s note: We don’t think he meant the New York Giants). And that’s pretty cool.”

This content is created and maintained by a third party and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may find more information on this and similar content at piano.io