Adrian Newey, the famous race car designer who heads Red Bull Racing’s technical department, is unhappy with one of the consequences of the move to tighter budgets in championship teams, which has only gotten worse over time become.
Starting in 2021, each team will be limited to spending no more than $145 million per season, and the only exceptions not taken into account are marketing costs and the salaries of the three highest-paid employees. However, the budget limit is adjusted every year to inflation and, for example, the global increase in energy prices.
To meet tight budgets, some teams were forced to make cuts to some staff or formally transfer some employees to other jobs not directly related to Formula 1 programs. The FIA was subsequently forced to issue a special directive to prevent such attempts to circumvent the current restrictions.
On the one hand, the transition to such budgets has not stopped Red Bull Racing from dominating the world championship, but on the other hand, according to Newey, there are some unintended consequences that affect the entire Formula 1.
“I think the hidden threat that comes with tight budgets, which probably none of us thought about when we first started talking about budgets, is that Formula 1 is no longer a technical industry with the highest salaries,” Newey emphasized in an interview with RacingNews365. – If earlier we could invite the most talented university graduates and attract them with such salaries, now, after the transition to limited budgets, we cannot do this. Especially considering inflation…
At the same time, technology startups are emerging with very high salaries, so if we now approach universities in an attempt to attract young specialists, we can no longer offer the best conditions.
The same applies to team employees moving to other technology companies, and this is a serious problem because it poses problems not only for our team, but for the whole of Formula 1.
It is already difficult for us to invite the best engineers in the world. We are still trying to do that, but we appeal to their passion for motorsport instead of attracting them with the highest salaries.”
There are several discussions going on between teams and the FIA about the current financial constraints, but so far there is no information that significant changes are expected in this area.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
