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Liberty Media to reveal F1 budget cap plan

Published on 22 May 2017 12:05
6
By: Fergal Walsh

Liberty Media are set to reveal plans for a budget cap in Formula 1, all aimed at allowing smaller teams to catch up and make the field more competitive. The sport has been under fire in the last four or so years as Mercedes has run riot, winning 83% of all Grands Prix since 2014.

One idea is a Nascar-like system, where at a certain point of the season, cars and engines must be presented to the competition so that technical secrets are revealed.

However even some of the non-frontrunning teams disagree with this method, including Force India: "Not everything that works in other sports is transferable to Formula 1," said Force India sporting boss Otmar Szafnauer. "The Nascar rule does not fit with the DNA of F1. Whoever wants equality of opportunity should give everyone the same money.

Auto Motor und Sport states that Liberty will announce their plans in the summer and run it for a trial year with no actual effects making their way into F1. CEO of F1 Chase Carey said that their goal is to make the sport less predictable.

"Everyone understands that the sport can only be healthy if it offers spectators action and competition and races whose outcome is not predictable.

"Toto Wolff recently said 'If Ferrari wins, that is good for the sport' and that's the point. He understands that it is about the sport. If one team wins everything, it has won the battle but lost the war if nobody is watching anymore," he added.

Fergal Walsh

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804

Yeah.. It seems too.. I'm not sure, as if all a teams' hard work is for nothing

2
May 22 2017 - 14:05

F1 News Susie Wolff Force India Ferrari Mercedes

Replies (6)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
It will be interesting to see what they come out with
- + 0
- May 22 2017 - 13:22
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Its a good idea with a budget cap, its about time one is introduced. Im not sure if Im fond of the Nascar thingy, though.
- + 0
- May 22 2017 - 13:46
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  Yeah.. It seems too.. I'm not sure, as if all a teams' hard work is for nothing
  + 2
  
  May 22 2017 - 14:05
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Yeah. One could argue that if a team is the first to discover a feature that will shave of decent time, they will benefit from that feature much longer than the other teams, and might even implement it better than the others when the others get the chance to implement it themselves, but I just dont think those arguments justify introducing this system into F1. Its the same with features like weight caps and such: it works great in some racing series, works great in Super GT and DTM, and for a while I thought it might have a place in F1, but I dont think it would work as well in F1, or could even be detrimental for the competitiveness of some teams.
  + 0
  
  May 22 2017 - 18:19
f1dave

Posts: 782
So, no reason to innovate. Taking a cue from NASCAR isn't a way foreward. What next, oval tracks.
- + 0
- May 22 2017 - 15:57
- Hepp
  
  Posts: 200
  good idea buddy,
  Run Indy, - 50% must be on the oval, the other on the inner course.
  + 0
  
  May 22 2017 - 20:01