Red Bull’s rivals reacted with scepticism to team principal Christian Horner’s suggestion more than half of the field might have to miss races this year.
Horner claimed seven teams would have to sit out four of the 22 races on the 2022 F1 calendar if nothing was done in response to the high rate of inflation which has made it harder for teams to stay within the sport’s cost cap.
Teams are limited to a maximum expenditure of £111.3 million ($140m) this year with certain additional allowances and exceptions. However rapid increase in the costs of freight, energy and materials since the start of the year, partly as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have left teams who expected to be close to the limit in danger of exceeding it.
Red Bull was previously one of F1’s top-spending teams. Horner has urged the FIA to offer concessions to the budget cap or risk teams having to miss races.
“We need the FIA to address the inflationary issue because I think basically probably about seven of the teams probably will need to miss the last four races to come within the cap this year from the consensus there has been up and down the paddock,” he said.
“It’s not just about the big teams now, it’s the teams in the middle of the field that are really struggling with the inflationary rate that we’re seeing that could even get worse in the second half of the year.”
He believes the FIA is “taking it very seriously” and is keen to see them take action. “You’d almost be at the point where I think for certain teams, from numbers that were presented earlier in the week, that they would have to probably miss a few grands prix to even get anywhere near the numbers.
“I think nobody wants to be in that position, which is why I think for the second six months of the year the FIA need to address the issue because things like energy bills and just cost of living,” he added.
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