James Allison, Mercedes Formula 1 technical director, remains unable to assess “any meaningful effect” of cost cap on the competitiveness. He insists it remains “way too early” to make a comment.
In 2021, FIA introduced financial constraint on the teams to make the sport more competitive. It restricted leading teams from spending too much on the development and outscore the rest.
The regulations aimed to support other teams to challenge the hegemony of the leading team. However, Red Bull dominated the recent regulatory era and enjoying no competition so far.
It left other teams at the behest of cost cap, which currently questions the applicability of the regulations. Nonetheless, Mercedes boss admits its too early to comment decisively on the matter.
He said: “I think it’s way too early to judge the effect of the cap on tightening the grid. I just think you’re going to need to have many more years play out before you’ll see the effect on that.”
Allison claims all team took time to completely understand the spending limits in 2021. Red Bull paid a fine of $7million and had to finish aerodynamic testing earlier than expected.
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Allison continued: “Certainly, in terms of understanding the rules, I think all the teams pretty much understood them by the end of the first year.
“Is it difficult to deal with it? Well, there’s been a downward movement of the cap, by regulation, which definitely means that there is a harder and harder environment in which to work.
“I think, broadly, the cap has been a positive thing for the financial health of the sport, for the security of the teams.
“[There’s] probably more work to do to reform it and make it a better set of regulations overall. But in that respect, no different to the sporting or technical [rules]. They’re all a work in progress and they all gradually find their path as we learn things and as the sport changes.
“But I think it’s too early to say that it’s going to have any meaningful effect on compressing the grid.”
