The idea to limit the spending of Grand Prix teams is nothing new, and was last on the table around 2010, when then-FIA President Max Mosley was keen to push it through to level the playing field.
It failed, for various reasons, but was agreed to in time for the 2021 season, limiting teams to what they can spend in a season in the hope that over time, the field would converge as the smaller outfits could compete with the likes of the Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull juggernauts which won every race from the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix to the 2020 Italian GP.
The base limit for 2023 was $135 million USD, although in reality this was a little higher owing to a rise to take into account the high level of global inflation, but teams have discovered that they can't simply bring upgrades whenever they feel like it, as the cost must be absorbed into the cost cap.
The three highest earners at each team are exempt from the cap, but this means teams are finding it hard to be able to promote and retain talent from within, with Red Bull losing key Adrian Newey lieutenants Dan Fallows and Rob Marshall to Aston Martin and McLaren, respectively.
But there is now the possibility that Newey himself could be moved off the F1 project due to concerns about his status as a high-earner.
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Newey on the sidelines?
In 2023, the FIA issued Technical Directive 45, aimed at combating the increasing use of senior technical figures in the applied divisions of teams, such as Red Bull Advanced Technologies or McLaren Applied Technologies.
There were fears that teams were transferring personnel to the advanced technologies branches to gain further F1 knowledge, but outside of the cost cap, which would be a breach of the rules.
When it announced the cost cap findings for the 2022 season, the FIA noted that all teams had acted "in good faith" but nevertheless closed the loophole, meaning that any person who contributes to F1 operations is counted towards the cost cap.
In the case of Newey in his role as Red Bull Chief Technical Officer, he is now spending much of his time focusing on the RB17 hypercar project with limited scope on F1.
However, as he still does contribute towards F1, his hefty salary is therefore included within the budget cap, causing a headache for Red Bull.
AMUS has reported that the team are considering transferring Newey to the RB17 project full-time, thus getting his salary off the F1 books and freeing up space on the bottom line.
However, should this happen, then Newey would be banned from working on the F1 machines.
RacingNews365 has reached out to Red Bull with a request of comment.
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Gordo62
The AMuS report is probably more speculative rather than factual. If Red Bull split Newey’s time between the RB17 hypercar project and F1 then surely his time would be pro-rated proportional to the time spent on each project. The 2024 RB20 design work is done and Wache and Balbo can do the bulk of the development work for the remainder of 2024. The 2025 car will likely be a development of the 2024 car. The 2026 car cannot be started until 2025. So Newey can mostly focus on the RB17 road car until 2025 when he will have to spend more of his time on the F1 car. So maybe AMuS are reading too much into this scenario?
Sundance98
We agree...Christian will not allow the stupid rules to undermine excellence. This article, may indeed as you say: "Making mountains out of mole hills!"