Wolff reveals 'very close' Mercedes cost cap breach scare

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that the Silver Arrows came "very close" to breaching the 2024 cost cap, following multiple heavy crashes late in the year. 

The cost cap was introduced to Formula 1 in 2021, and represents the limit of how much each team can spend per season. 

In 2024, each team could not spend more than $135 million, with the FIA to officially announce later this year whether all 10 outfits complied with the regulations. 

Wolff is insistent that the Brackley-based team remained within budget, but that it was extremely close following some big crashes. 

Kimi Antonelli crashed heavily on his debut in Monza at Parabolica, before George Russell had an accident at the Circuit of the Americas and another huge one in Mexico City.

The repairs ate into the team's budget, to the extent that only one specification of wing was available to Mercedes at a certain stage last year. 

"Very close. You can't build up a big nest egg," Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport when asked how close Mercedes came to breaching the cost cap. "It's more the case that you overshoot at the beginning of the year and then start to save. 

"At  the end of the year, we had to do without some upgrades in aerodynamics and mechanics because there was simply no money left to produce the corresponding parts. 

"The accidents at the end of the season really get you into trouble. Kimi [Antonelli] in Monza, George [Russell] in Austin and Mexico. At one point we only had one set of a certain type of wing.

"In Mexico we couldn't go back to the old aero specification because there were no spares available. There was no money left within the cost limit for new ones."

Despite Mercedes having almost surpassed the cost cap, Wolff remains in favour of the budgeting system. 

"Definitely," stated Wolff. "Because it has made the teams profitable and therefore the sport sustainable."