Brawn wants solution for F1 budget cap inflation squeeze

The annual cap on what teams can spend fell from $145m in 2021 to $140m for this season.

However, the rising costs of many items that fall under the cap have made it harder than anticipated for the bigger teams to stay under it without compromising car development.

Several teams have been lobbying hard for an increase in the cap, or other forms of adjustment, although other teams have indicated that they are happy for it not to change within this season.

Brawn acknowledged the issue would have to be addressed, and it will be among the subjects discussed at Tuesday's meeting of the F1 Commission in London.

"I think the inflationary increase needs to be reviewed," he said. "Because when these rules were developed, inflation was relatively low and predictable, and now it's high and unpredictable.

"And if you look at the inflation rates that apply to industrial enterprises, like an F1 team, you've got power, you've got raw materials, you got all the things which are proving to be quite expensive at the moment. So I think there's a solution coming on that."

McLaren has been a stalwart supporter of the cap, but team principal Andreas Seidl acknowledged that given the inflation rate the issue has to be addressed.

Asked by Autosport to clarify McLaren's position, he said: "Despite being clearly a team that is very keen to make sure that we protect the budget cap, I think in special circumstances like we have at the moment, you need to be open for common sense dialogue, and make required adjustments.

"And that's where we stand in this specific discussion at the moment. Especially when unexpected things happen when the season is already ongoing. I think it's more than just common sense that you you need to find a solution, how to deal with that."

Andreas Seidl, McLaren

Photo by: Erik Junius

In contrast, Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur said any changes on how inflation is dealt with should have to wait for 2023.

"You can't change the regulations every single weekend because one team wants to spend more on development," he told Autosport.

"Or because they are overweight, or because that they want to have an extra allowance for this.

"There is a rule, the most important thing is to stick to the rule. If the concept of inflation and the calculation of the inflation is not the best one, we can think about it for the future. Why not?

"But we have something in place, and everybody agreed when we signed the deal. Now we have to follow the rules."