Christian Horner, Red Bull Formula 1 team principal, believes that employees would be the one to pay the highest price for any cost cap change.
The FIA enacted to increase restriction on much teams could spend on their development. It is expected to be around $220 million from 2026 on-wards, which will include more items on the list.
Initials reports suggest FIA may include HR items such as maternity/paternity leave and staff entertainment fund. Many teams pushed back on this as they value their teams.
Now FIA has clarified its position and decided against inclusion of maternity/paternity leave in the final draft. Horner spoke for the team member and asserts that employees shall be off the table from the regulations. FIA shall only focus on the on-track performance items.
“It’s [about] finding a balance between what are exclusions and what is included within that higher number,” Horner commented on the proposal.
“What I think is the most important thing for 2026 is that the employees don’t bear the brunt of those changes.
“So, I think there’s a sensible discussion about what’s being included. What is to remain excluded and what actually is relevant to creating performance.
“For example, does a Christmas party actually make your car go faster? Now, if that is to be included in the cap, of course, every technical director is going to want a front wing as opposed to a Christmas party, which is a bit tight.
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“I’m not saying that our technical director doesn’t like Christmas parties, but he likes front wings…
“So it’s finding that kind of balance where the employees aren’t the ones that bear the brunt of this.
“But I think, by and large, it’s been a very productive and sensible discussion.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Sauber representative, wants to take cost of living into account for cost caps.
“The target will be to avoid areas that can have different interpretation from the teams, especially the definition of F1 or non-F1 activities,” he said.
“For teams like ourselves it will be important to introduce an element that can equalise differences in terms of cost of living. Because of course there is a kind of discrepancy between the cost in Switzerland and in other countries.
“I think that we should put all the teams at the same level at least as a starting point. And so the difference will be the ability of the people and the quality of the work.”
