Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner has disagreed with Mattia Binotto over his cost cap suggestions.
One of the hottest topics surrounding the F1 world today is the cost cap enforced on teams this season. Due to this, each team has a limited budget of $145 million to spend for the entire season. Teams like Red Bull and Ferrari have taken exception to the cost cap, especially after suffering losses due to damages in races.
Binotto had suggested some days ago a way to address the rigidity of the cost cap. He said it needed revision, since teams are forced to pay even when they aren’t at fault.
“I think it’s certainly an important point because the reason why I mentioned 2.5m euro (the expenses incurred by Ferrari) is to show that overall the damage can be significant,” Binotto said earlier.
“I think that certainly there are no obvious solutions, but it is something that no doubt we will discuss with the FIA, F1 and teams in the coming weeks, possibly to address it, to see if there is any solution for the future.”
When asked about the cost cap, Steiner disagreed with Binotto’s opinion. He said it should undergo no change, and said that teams need to learn to live with it. He remarked that crashes are part of the sport, and teams shouldn’t look at technicalities to escape.
“I think we need to live with that; we need to budget for this,” Steiner said.
Two sides of the coin
“We need to be flexible enough. I think it is part of racing and will be part of how much risk you take in a race and whatever you do.
“So I think it is part of racing the crashes. You cannot adjust the budget or regulation on how many crashes you have got because for me, it doesn’t feel like any change is needed on this one.”
Steiner’s comments stand against the richer teams in F1. They may be looking to pin bills on other teams for crashes, and that would open up a whole new set of problems.
As of now, the cost cap still stands, but there is a chance the FIA may revisit it and look at Binotto and Steiner’s points.
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