Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are lobbying for the FIA to increase the budget cap starting from 2023.
With new technical regulations in place, it has become difficult for teams to adhere to a strict budget set by the FIA.
In 2021, the cost cap was set at £111.5 million, which was reduced to £107.6m this season. This is despite the fact that there will be an additional Grand Prix held this year.
If reports are to be believed, the 2023 regulations will see teams being forced to do their business within £103.7 million.
Seven out of ten teams are believed to be opposing this decrease in budget cap, with Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari leading the way.
Expectedly, teams that work on a limited budget such as Alpine, Haas and Alfa Romeo are believed to be happy with FIA’s proposal.
It is perhaps strange that Haas is happy with the budget cap, especially given the huge amount of money it is incurring in repairing Schumacher’s car following his crash in Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps one reason for this can be deduced from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s recent revelation that damage incurred due to crashes does not come within this budget cap.
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner had revealed that the team expected to be billed somewhere in the region of £760,000 for Schumacher’s car damages.
Did McLaren take a U-turn on budget stance?
The seven teams that want bigger budgets are believed to be demanding an additional £5million to get the total to £114.4 million.
McLaren was earlier believed to be against the increase of the budget cap but has now altered its view.
This is something that has frustrated Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer, who believes it is a direct result of the team’s early-season struggles.
“They have problems with their cars and have to rebuild massively, they need more money to do that,” Szaufner said.
The budget cap has essentially been introduced to pave a more level playing field as it prevents bigger constructors from bringing upgrades that smaller teams are not able to afford themselves.
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