Alfa Romeo CTO Jean Monchaux spoke to motorsport magazine about the unfairness of budget caps and competitive factors this season…
Q: This year the teams are working according to the financial rules, but you said the conditions are not the same for everyone…
Jean Monchaux: Ever eaten in a Swiss restaurant? The problem is that the budget constraint does not compensate for the difference in the cost of living between different countries. Each team can spend $140 million, but with the same number of employees, we spend 20-30% more on wages in Switzerland than in Italy or the UK. And the teams put this difference in the car.
Q: Was the discussion about increasing the minimum weight of cars unpleasant for you?
Jean Monchaux: Yes. It’s just like in football, before the season started, someone decided that it was necessary to release not 11, but 13 players on the court.
The rules are clear and the same for everyone. Someone is always better at his job, and someone is worse. But in football you can’t go to management and say you’re going to start the season with 13 players or you’ll lose. Rules cannot be changed at the snap of a finger. This is a bit annoying, because we have done our job better than many.
Q: What will be the main competitive factor this season?
Jean Monchaux: First – reliability, then – the ability to quickly update the machine on a budget. Obviously everyone will modify their cars, whoever does it faster and better will win.
We must not forget that we only had 12 months to develop these machines, although this is an incredibly difficult task. This is not an excuse, but you can see for yourself that most of the teams have not been without problems. And the ones that don’t seem to have them just haven’t found them yet.
These cars are so complex that it is impossible to get through an entire season without making mistakes. In the first races, reliability is important and then the ability to fine-tune the car quickly, increasing efficiency. At some point you will realize that it is no longer possible to get more out of the car without radical changes, and other teams will find such an opportunity – and the balance of power will change. We have to wait a few more months to understand in which direction everything is moving.
Source: F1 News
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