After Valtteri Bottas was involved in a serious crash at Imola, the team insisted that the cost of the damage could affect development later in the season and skipping a scheduled tire test is further evidence of how the top teams are now considering everyone need dollars they spend.
Even a budget of $ 400,000 for participating in the Pirelli test was insufficient for Mercedes to justify sending its mule wagon and crew to France.
The two-day Ricard test, conducted only on wet tires, was one of three sessions Mercedes initially agreed to as teams help Pirelli refine its new 18-inch products. The Brackley-based outfit ran on slicks in Imola for two days in April, and a single day of dry rubber is planned, scheduled for August in Budapest.
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Ferrari has stepped in and will be reporting on the wet tire meeting next week. However, the world champion’s decision has made Pirelli concerned about the potential impact on its tire development program over the coming seasons.
Tire testing was one of the topics that came up when the details of the new F1 financial rules of 2021 were discussed. It was agreed that to get tire testing costs out of budget, each participating team would deduct $ 200,000 from their total expenses for the year for each day of running.
A “credit” of USD 400,000 for the two-day Ricard test sounds like a decent compromise. However, Mercedes is sailing so close to the $ 145 million cap for 2021 that it still can’t justify the test – and for several specific reasons.
First, in the middle of a busy 23-event season, the team usually planned to use mechanics from the demo or heritage car team to insure the regular guys on the racing team. These people do not fall under the cost cap as their normal day-to-day work does not include the current racing program.
They are allowed to contribute to current activities for a few days – but if that is more than 10% of their hours, their entire salary would fall below the cap and thus be allocated to annual expenses. The quarantine requirements when returning to the UK add to the complexity of sending a crew just for the test.
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes F1 AMG
Photo by: Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 Team
The second problem is the engine cost. In an appendix to the F1 sports regulations of 2021 with the designation “PU supply scope” a little-known reference to the total test kilometers for the year is buried.
Essentially, it says that a team’s annual PU lease bill includes two cars for the racing season and up to 5000 km of testing. It adds, “Additional PUs or spares required to replace units that are out of service due to accidental damage or other competitive causes are out of service and incur additional charges.”
In other words, the engine leasing costs that the teams list in their annual expenses – and Mercedes GP pays parent company Daimler AG the same amount as their three customers – only includes 5000 km of testing. As you go beyond that, the additional PU costs will have to be added to your spending, which will bring you closer and closer to the cap.
This year Mercedes has already carried out three test days in Bahrain, two short 100 km shooting days and two days of 18-inch tires for Pirelli in Imola. It still has to do the one-day Budapest tire test and then the Abu Dhabi test after the last race.
If the team had run for two days at Paul Ricard next week, it would have exceeded 5000 km per year, which would have generated additional PU costs that would then be added to the total spend for the season.
“We are trying to reach the budget ceiling, which is not trivial,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on Thursday. “And we couldn’t bear the costs associated with the tire test and couldn’t have sent our mechanics on such a long journey.”
It’s worth noting that this mile situation only really affects Mercedes and Ferrari in 2021, as they are the only teams that originally volunteered for five days of Pirelli races. The other big player, Red Bull Racing, who approached the cap, opted for just three days.
Ferrari has now increased its total Pirelli testing obligation to seven days, finding a way to absorb those additional engine costs within its cap spending.
In addition, the Italian team is in a different situation than Mercedes in terms of mechanics, as they deploy the guys on the racing team – their crew will be driving straight from Monaco to Ricard next week. Thus, it does not get into the complex situation of the total annual salary of non-F1 team employees suddenly falling below the upper limit.
Maranello’s decision also shows that the team is ready to ride every lap on 18-inch rubber, as there is always something to learn even with a mule car.
“As Ferrari we have always said that 2022 is somehow our priority over 2021,” says team boss Mattia Binotto. “And testing Pirelli tires to help Pirelli develop the new tires that we think are important to us.
“Luckily we didn’t have an accident at Imola, so at some point today we have more contingency with Mercedes, so we’re kind of happy to accept and support this.”
Mario Isola, Race Director, Pirelli Motorsport and Mattia Binotto, Team Principal Ferrari
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
A few days of wet running, which is swapped out for another team, may not be a big deal in the overall scheme. What is decisive, however, is what the Mercedes decision says about the upper budget limit and how much it already affects the day-to-day operations of the large teams.
Don’t forget that the cap will drop to $ 140 million in 2022 and $ 135 million in 2023, making balancing the books only more difficult.
And that’s a potential problem for Pirelli, as the company plans to run a full development test program over the next year as it improves its 18-inch tires for the second season of 2023. The concern is that extra winter testing days in particular are likely to increase their annual mileage, the top teams may find it difficult to justify participating in the Pirelli program.
“When Mercedes came to me and said we might have a problem with your tire tests, it was a bit of a surprise,” said Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola.
“Of course I’m going to speak to the FIA to discuss this because if it’s a problem this year, it’s probably a problem next year and we have to find the solution.
“Next year they’ll be using racing cars, not new mule cars. So I need to understand how this affects the tire tests.”
According to Isola, Pirelli is always flexible, which is why exchanging the Ricard test for Ferrari wasn’t a big problem.
“This year, as usual, we made a plan with a rotation,” he noted. “We offer the test to all teams, as we do every year. All teams except Williams decided to build a mule car. So there was already a plan that was agreed with everyone.
“Fortunately, with this decision in favor of Mercedes, we have found Ferrari available for this wet test, so that we can continue our development plan, as predicted, since the beginning of the season.
“We’re always ready and have to be reactive, but the budget cap is something new. But because of the pandemic and because of the changes in the calendar, we are already ready to respond to a similar situation. But this situation in connection with the budget cap surprised me a little. “
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes F1 AMG
Photo by: Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 Team
Isola agrees that while there is already $ 200,000 a day available, more steps need to be taken to ensure teams can compete in the Pirelli Run without worrying about the consequences of the budget cap.
“The tire tests for Pirelli have to be neutral for the teams,” he says. “The teams are focusing on the budget constraints, they’re working on it. But Pirelli tire tests shouldn’t be in that equation.” I am not saying that it is easy to make a rule for this, we have to discuss the problem.
“There’s no easy solution, but I’m sure we’ll find a solution that works together because it’s pretty, not weird, but it makes little sense that you should decide to back off if you do decide to test .
“If this has an impact on the cost cap, we have to find a solution. It’s a dynamic world. So there is something new every day and we are sure to find the solution to that too.”
Next week’s Ricard test is important for Pirelli as it is one of only three tests dedicated to the wet / intermediate test on an artificially soaked track.
The first was with Ferrari in Jerez in February and the third with Alpine in Magny-Cours in September.
Ferrari now also has the days originally assigned to Mercedes and will therefore be responsible for two-thirds of all tests for Pirelli’s 2022 wet tires. It will be interesting to see if this additional knowledge ultimately proves beneficial should it rain at some point next season …
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