Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has proposed stricter budget cap rules in F1.
Ex-F1 star Jacques Villeneuve has suggested for stricter rules and penalties be imposed around the cost cap of the sport.
Earlier in the year, FIA had implemented a cap on the spending of the teams at $140 million. It was done in an attempt to even out the playing field for all the teams. However, big teams like Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari have protested to increase the cost cap.
The teams are complaining the cost cap is too low and difficult to stay within. Following the complaints from teams and visible inflation in the market, F1 approved a 3.1% increase in budget cap earlier in Austrian GP.
However, teams still believe the increase in budget is insufficient. Red Bull team Principal Christian Horner complained saying the relaxation is ‘not enough’.
“Seven of the teams would probably need to miss the last four races to come within the cap this year. It’s not just about the big teams. It’s teams in the middle of the field who are really struggling with inflationary issues,”
stated Horner.
Former World Champion and Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve has suggested a drastic measure for those who want to flout the rules set by the sport.
What did Jacques Villeneuve suggest?
The 51-year-old Canadian believes that the teams have decided to ignore the rule.
“We need some proper regulations on what the penalty is for going beyond the budget cap. Right now, they can do a million things but who knows what will be the penalty taken out of the box? It is as if they decided from the start that they would go past it anyway and then argue.”
The Canadian said in a podcast.
He suggests a strict punishment for the teams crossing the budget.
“I think the best penalty would be that if you overspend by $1 million. You have to give $1 million to every other team on the grid and they are allowed to spend that even if it goes beyond their cap. So if the top teams spend $10 million more, they would be spending $100 million more and the smaller teams would get all that money. Then ok, that would balance it, that would be fun, that would be fair.”
Stated Villeneuve.
Jacques Villeneuve had also criticized Red Bull boss Horner and his Mercedes counterpart Totto Wolf earlier this season. According to him,
“they[Mercedes and Red Bull] signed for it so they should try to work things out in the cap.” “Cost and inflation is a problem for every team. They should probably develop there car a little less,”
the Canadian stated.
Red Bull and Mercedes continue to develop their 2022 cars despite the rising costs. It will be interesting to see how they stay under the budget cap in the second half of the season.
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