Mercedes plays new card: "Want my people to be well paid"

Mercedes has once again tried to explain why they, like Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, consider it necessary to raise the $140 million budget ceiling. Everything has become a lot more expensive and the budgets that were made prior to the season can go in the trash as a result. Toto Wolff is again trying to make a case for an increase in the maximum budget in 2022.

Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have joined forces, claiming that rising energy costs and inflation have made everything disproportionately more expensive. The teams are already taking fewer spares to Grands Prix, but Red Bull even stated that it cannot be completely ruled out that they will have to miss Grands Prix because it is simply not affordable anymore.

Competitors distrustful

The teams in the midfield, led by Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Williams, do not want to know anything about an increase in the budget ceiling. The teams think that there is no question of force majeure and simply say that the competition should bring fewer updates to keep the costs under control.

Wolff emphasized in a conversation with Motorsport-Magazin.com that Mercedes is not trying to take advantage of a possible increase in the budget ceiling. The team boss shares those concerns of his colleagues: "That would be the worst thing for the sport." Nevertheless, in his view, there is no escaping an increase in the maximum money to be spent.

Mercedes explains destination of extra money

Mercedes says it can easily demonstrate that energy costs at the Brackley plant have risen from £2.5 million to £6.5 million. Freight costs, according to Wolff, would have increased from 2 million pounds to 6 million pounds. Exactly that 8 million pounds, according to the aforementioned German medium, Mercedes would now have proposed to add to the budget ceiling.

Moreover, Mercedes wants to be a good employer and allow its staff's wages to rise with inflation. "[The increase] would then allow us to use part of it to adjust salaries. We don't want to make a profit. It's literally about compensating people with their salaries for the inflation they suffer. I want my people to be well paid, especially in such difficult circumstances," Wolff concludes.