While Formula 1 teams continue to grapple with the difficulty of staying within the current budget cap, a potentially significant future change became a focus of debate in Baku.
Drivers’ salaries – which are a particularly significant expense for some teams – are not included within the cap. Unsurprisingly, drivers almost unanimously opposed any suggestion that should change.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who in March signed a new contract keeping him at the team until the end of 2028 for a reputed £40 million per year, was among the most vocal critics. The reigning world champion concluded it would be “completely wrong” to introduce a driver salary cap at a time when Formula 1’s popularity is soaring and revenue growing along with it.
F1 made a profit of £27.5 million ($34m) over the first three months of 2022 as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic lessened, while the total revenue generated by the F1 Group doubled.
“At the moment F1 is becoming more and more popular and everyone is making more and more money, including the teams, F1 [owners] – everyone is benefiting,” Verstappen observed.
“So why should the drivers, with their IP rights and everything, be capped? [Those] who actually bring the show and put their lives at risk, because we do? So for me, it’s completely wrong.”
It’s not just today’s Formula 1 drivers who would feel the knock-on effects of such a cap, Verstappen claimed. He foresees a real impact for junior drivers in their efforts to reach the top. Drivers racing in lower categories rely heavily on sponsors or financial backers to further their careers, which becomes less of a lucrative investment if their future earnings could potentially be lower.
“In all the junior categories, you see how many of those drivers have a sponsor or a backer, who eventually will have a certain percentage of their income in potentially F1 or wherever,” Verstappen explained. “I think it’s going to limit that a lot because they will never get their return in money if you get a cap. So it will hurt all the junior categories as well and I don’t think you want that.”
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Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas echoed the world champion’s view. “In the end when you come up with the different categories you need financial support and eventually the investors who invest in you they are expecting a good payback,” he said.
“If…
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