Marussia chiefs back Bernie Ecclestone budget cap while being sceptic over customer cars – Formula 1
Marussia chiefs have backed Bernie Ecclestone’s budget cap idea.
Marussia believes that the budget cap is a good idea and is very beneficial to the smaller teams. The idea of customer cars though would be taking it too far according to the team chiefs.
Marussia originally Virgin F1 entered the sport under the budget cap and since have not been able to stamp any authority in the sport as high costs of maintaining a team is hindering their progress.
Ecclestone though believes that the teams need to be saved from themselves by a budget cap and Marussia agrees. The sporting director of the team Graeme Lowdon thinks that the budget cap will help all the teams not just their own.
The budget cap basically closes the gap between the top teams and the weaker teams, as seen in the previous two seasons, the budget cap control was loosely followed and the sport had become much more lop sided. The gap between the two ends of the grid had
widened.
Lowdon believes that if the budget cap is imposed it will make the sport much more competitive.
“The attraction for us as a team coming into F1, was that if the rules had not changed and the resources you can employ are limited, then there should be some reward for ingenuity and being clever,” Lowdon told AUTOSPORT.
Team principal John Booth also backed the move but showed his reservations over the customer car move.
“Cost control and a fairer distribution of the wealth will be a much better way of closing the field up and making the race exciting than the other idea that has been put forward of buying one-year old [customer] cars,” Booth explained. “It sounds like a
great idea but it has not been thought well through very well.”
He said that if Marussia were to get the last year’s Red Bull it will be quicker than most cars on the grid, and it would not be fair for teams like Force-India, Toro Rosso and Sauber as they will be pushed down.
It is a valid point but it remains to be seen how FIA plans to tackle with cost reduction.
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