Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn believes budget cap is necessary for the sport – Formula 1
Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn thinks that a budget cap is essential in the sport if Formula 1 teams want to survive in this economic downturn.
Kaltenborn believes that the cap will not only help teams to sustain their berth in the sport but also increase the competition.
Placing a cap on budget has been a hot topic of debate in F1 circles as F1 management tries to find the right balance between what is considered cost effectiveness and what harms the competitiveness of the sport.
The issue has resulted in Red Bull, Ferrari, Sauber and Toro Rosso to quit Formula One Teams Association and the Resource Restriction Agreement. Almost all the teams have concerns over the limited number of testing days allowed to teams and the lack of transparency
in how much money the teams are spending.
“We started it with the Resource Restriction Agreement, and that in itself was already an important step, but of course it is far from the only one you need,” she told Formula One’s official website. “We now have to evolve it to the next step, and in my
view the future should indeed lie in some kind of budget cap under which each and every team could do what they want to, because we all have different strengths.”
She further explained by giving the example of her team and said that even though the infrastructure of the team is pretty good added with a good wind tunnel that gives the team an advantage, but other teams have other assets that can give them an advantage
over others.
She believes that this would make the sport more interesting as different teams will try to look into different strategies to gain advantages over other teams of the sport.
“I think that we should have the next step [towards a budget cap] already in place for next season and take it from there,” she added. “Next season for me should already see a major step forward in the financial feasibility of a team.”
It has been revealed by F1 management that most teams have agreed to the revised Concorde Agreement and Kaltenborn confirmed that Sauber have also agreed to it.
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