Andreas Seidl does not agree with Christian Horner's suggestion that the budget cap should be revisited to look at ways of dealing with the cost of accidents. Red Bull have endured two difficult races in regards to damage on their cars. The cost of Max Verstappen's crash at Silverstone following his clash with Lewis Hamilton was estimated at 750,000 euros. Meanwhile both Verstappen and Sergio Perez were affected by the Turn 1 incident caused by Valtteri Bottas at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Perez forced to retire whilst Verstappen managed to complete the race but struggled due to the extensive damage on his car. Whilst the likes of Horner and Ferrari's Mattia Binotto have questioned whether the guilty parties in such incidents should pay for the damage incurred by those who were affected through no fault of their own, McLaren team principal Seidl believes this is just a part of being in Formula 1. "I definitely will not go in the direction Christian is going, mentioning in every second sentence the cost cap and how much you get hurt by it by every accident on the track," Seidl told RacingNews365.com and other select media when asked about Horner's remarks. "In the end, that's part of the game we're in. It's down to us to manage the budget in the right way." McLaren were amongst those affected by the first-lap melee in Hungary. Lando Norris was hit from behind by Bottas and, whilst the team initially hoped to keep him in the race, the British driver had to retire and thus recorded his first DNF of the season. Daniel Ricciardo also suffered after being hit by Charles Leclerc as a result of Lance Stroll driving into the Ferrari. Ricciardo managed to finish the Grand Prix in 12th but, like Verstappen, struggled given the sustained damage to his car. Seidl admits that this will add to the challenge of being ready for the next race after the summer break in Belgium, but he is confident that the team can get the job done. "It will be a challenge to make sure now we have enough parts of the new specification available for Spa," Seidl explained. "But on the other hand, we have a great team back home in production on the engineering side, so I'm confident we can recover from what happened." The McLaren boss is also sure that the damage incurred at the Hungaroring will not affect any developments that the team may be planning to bring soon. "I don't see that it affects anything of our plans, to be honest. It is quite simple and straightforward. "At the beginning of the season, based on experience also from previous years, you simply have to account for some crash damage per year. That's what you have to figure in, and that's what we have in the budget. "That's the challenge we're in and it's the same for everyone."
Most read
