Aston Martin boss Mike Krack has used an unusual "supermarket" metaphor to describe how the team is navigating the cost cap against its upgrade push.
The Silverstone-based team is preparing to unleash its much-awaited upgrade in the Hungarian GP, with the AMR26 thus receiving no technical updates after the tough start to the season for the team.
However, unlike in previous eras of F1, the team cannot simply spend its way out of trouble owing to the cost cap placed on teams, which stands at $215 million USD - £160.2 million GBP for the 2026 season.
Detailing how the team is juggling its demands for on-track improvement against the budgetary constraints, Krack deployed an unusual analogy - shopping in a supermarket.
"You go to the supermarket, and you have 100 euros in your pocket, so you can only spend 100 euros," the chief trackside officer began to tell media, including RacingNews365.
"If you get something for free, it is out of the 100, so you develop your car. If you have spent your 100, you cannot spend any more, so you need to see when you have everything.
"One thing you must not forget is you can have crashes, so you need to keep some margin to spend your 100 euros cleverly, so it is a consistent balance between development and cost of racing.
"We have a lot of new people who are trying to do a lot better processes so that the parts become cheaper, for example, so this whole thing is permanently trying to optimise, so that you get much more for your 100 euros.
"I do not want to argue if it's needed or not. I think it's the regulation, like it's like the car must weigh this, or the engine has to have this number of cylinders. It is the regulations that you accept, and then you have to do the best with them.
"In Formula 1, you need to be efficient with how you do your parts, how you manage everything.
"You have to work with not only the technical challenge or the sporting challenge, but you also have the financial challenge, and that's part of Formula 1."
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