'Voluntary £30m offers technical trade-off'

Tuesday 17th March 2009

'Voluntary £30m offers technical trade-off'

The FIA have introduced a budget cap of £30m that any team can sign up for and in exchange for agreeing to the cost-cutting measure they will handed total technical freedom.

The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on Tuesday to vote on various suggestions put forward by the FIA and the teams. One of these suggestions was a budget cap, which the WMSC agreed was the right way for Formula One to go in 2010.

But the teams have a choice about whether or not they will adhere to the £30m cap and those that do will be granted a level of technical freedom withheld from those not signing up.

A statement issued by the FIA said: "The technical freedoms accorded to the low-budget teams will be adjusted from time to time to keep their median performance on a par with the median performance of the unlimited-expenditure teams. The regulations for the unlimited-expenditure teams will remain stable and fixed."

As for what those technical freedoms are, FIA President Max Mosley explains: "A different (but standard) under body, movable wings, no engine rev limit, no restriction on the number or type of updates, no homologation requirements, no limits on materials, testing, simulators, wind tunnels and so forth - most of the cost saving measures introduced over the last few years will not apply to these teams. However measures to save money during the race weekend, such as the ban on refuelling and the Saturday parc ferme, will apply to both categories of team.

"We are also thinking about a much bigger capacity KERS for the cost-capped teams. But all this must be covered by the £30 million - no exceptions and no free or subsidised outside help.

"Anything supplied by another team or an outside supplier will be included at its full commercial cost except for items supplied to all teams at subsidised rates under the single supplier arrangements negotiated by the FIA (e.g. for tyres), which allow all teams to benefit equally from reduced costs."

But don't expect teams with big name drivers to sign up as FIA President Max Mosley revealed the cap will include drivers' salaries.

"Everything except the motor home (if the team has one) and any fine(s) imposed by the FIA. All expenditure will be included, even the salaries of the drivers and team principal," said Mosley when asked what the cap covered.

"If the team is profitable, it can pay a dividend to its shareholders, who may well include a chief engineer, team principal or even a driver. But we would make sure the team was genuinely making enough profit to cover the dividend."

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen reportedly earns £25m a year while Lewis Hamilton is sitting pretty with a £70m McLaren contract.That is over 5 years actually.

Source : Planet F1