Christian Horner has warned that the F1 title could potentially be decided in court if action is not taken over the budget cap. The Red Bull boss is amongst those calling for the FIA to increase the yearly cost cap – currently set at $140 million – due to the rise in global inflation, and has been vocal about the issue for some time . He believes that, if the cap is not increased, some teams will struggle to stay within the allotted amount and thus could risk being penalised. "The way you design your car is within your control," Horner told Sky Sports F1 . "That is something that you, together with your group of designers, you create. You're in control of your own destiny. "What we're seeing in the world at the moment, we're not in control of the inflationary costs that are affecting households around the world. In the UK, we're seeing predicted inflation at 11 per cent. "That's a direct effect on staff, on raw materials, on electricity, on commodities, on supplied parts. I think it genuinely is a force majeure situation that the FIA need to deal with."
Horner voices fears over risk of penalties
Horner has suggested that as many as half of the 10 teams on the grid could end up going over the budget cap by the end of the 2022 season, putting themselves at risk of punishment. As such, he is calling for immediate action to be taken to avoid a situation where the championships could be decided in court. "There's probably about 50 per cent of the teams who are going to breach the cap at the end of the year if it continues the way things are. Probably even more," he continued. "We don't want a championship decided in law courts, or in Paris in front of the FIA. "We've got six months of the year to address this, we need to act now."
Jobs risk issue also raised by Horner
Additionally, Horner fears that some teams could be forced to cut staff under the current budget cap. "I think the top teams would have to get rid of circa two, three hundred people each, to get anywhere near addressing it," the Red Bull boss said. "Is that right? "The problem is if the cost cap fails badly, it'll be gone forever. "We need to find a solution to this issue. Nobody could have predicted this. We lowered the cost cap by $35m during the pandemic, and nobody could have predicted the issues that we've got."
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