McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident that no F1 team will end the season prematurely due to constraints in the sports cost cap for the 2022 season.
The Woking-based team had earlier confirmed they had halted the development of the McLaren MCL36 after concerns about going over the predetermined $140 million budget cap set before the start of the campaign.
Despite some teams asking F1 and the FIA to amend the cost cap in light of the rising cost of inflation in the world, the cap remains where it is.
Speaking in an interview with German broadcaster n-tv during the 2022 F1 British GP weekend, the American said:
“We’re all going to race because there are contracts that oblige us to do so. We have sponsors who expect that. I can’t imagine a scenario where a team ends the season prematurely. I don’t believe that for a second, it’s just empty threats.”
Without pointing a finger directly at anyone, Brown asked for more credibility from people making comments suggesting otherwise. Hey said:
“I would like some people to place more value on credibility when making statements or expressing opinions like that, then they could be taken more seriously. We’re all going to race because there are contracts that oblige us to do so.”
Earlier, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had predicted that as many as seven F1 teams could miss up to four races due to F1’s cost cap and the rising costs in the world.
McLaren expected to breach F1 cost cap in 2022 season, confirms CEO Zak Brown
Despite their best efforts to stay within budget, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has confessed that his team is on course to breach the 2022 F1 season’s cost cap.
Speaking in the aforementioned interview with German outlet n-tv, Brown said:
“We want to break the budget ceiling. We saved as much as we could when developing the car and really tried to stay under the limit, but then inflation hit and costs exploded for transportation, for energy. The FIA now has to think about how to deal with the problem, and then we have to see how we can solve it for the future. We all have to work together to find a fair and sensitive solution. I don’t understand, we all have the same problem, the same increased costs. So all the teams should exceed the limit by about the same amount. If they don’t, some might be trying to take advantage of the situation.”
Earlier, team principal Andreas Seidl had confirmed the halting of development for their 2022 challenger, saying:
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“Hopefully it is not just us who had to pull the handbrake in terms of further developments, due to the restrictions we’re having mainly from the cost cap side. But there are also the restrictions you have nowadays with further limited wind tunnel time, so you really need to be very careful with how you use your wind tunnel time.”
Heading into the 2022 F1 British GP, McLaren is fourth in the World Constructors’ Championship standings with 65 points after nine rounds of racing.
