Toto Wolff wants compromise on ‘stubborn position’ of smaller teams

Toto Wolff wants to see an agreement found regarding a budget cap increase in Formula 1, to provide a wage increase for staff members.

The Mercedes team principal and CEO reasoned that he wants to see his staff’s salaries be able to rise in line with soaring inflation but, as staff wages are included in the sport’s $140million budget cap, he feels there is little opportunity to be able to do so, given how close the teams are running to the cap as it stands.

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner worries that if an increase to the budget is increased, it will simply serve to benefit the bigger teams in the paddock – but Wolff does not want to “outmaneouvre” the aim of the cap, and believes the spending should go towards the people behind the scenes at the teams – and it can be accounted for when examining team finances.

As such, the Mercedes chief executive thinks the “stubborn position” of teams like Haas is a stumbling block to helping staff members, insisting that he doesn’t want to “screw them” and others.

“It’s not that we want to generate more profit, it’s literally allowing people to have their salaries compensated for the extraordinary inflation they are suffering from,” Wolff said, as quoted by Autosport.

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“So, it’s not that we suddenly want to have more, but let’s stick to the fact when we entered the year and the premises that we ended the year and then let’s look at the numbers now. And then hopefully we can find a way to adjust.

“I think the worst for the sport is having a stubborn position that some of the smaller teams think that the big ones are trying to gain an…