Alpine fears F1 cost cap breach: 'We have to think about stopping that'

Otmar Szafnauer fears that some Formula 1 teams will use loopholes in the regulations surrounding the cost cap. The Alpine team boss points out that all sorts of side activities are suddenly popping up among some staff members that would not be there without the measure.

Not all activities performed by staff members of F1 teams fall under the budget ceiling. As an example, Szafnauer points to his former Force India and Racing Point colleague Andrew Green, who was technical director at Aston Martin before former Red Bull Racing chief Dan Fallows was appointed to that position.

Green retained his position, but would from then on carry it out at the umbrella company Aston Martin Performance Technologies. Szafnauer fears that more F1 teams will use that construction to try to keep the costs of their best-paid staff outside the cost cap.

Szafnauer fears cost cap breach

"It seems like more and more people are looking at their well-renumerated employees for cost cap reasons. All these ancillary businesses are now cropping up that without a budget cap wouldn’t be there," Szafnauer is quoted by Speedcafe.com. "We’ve got to look at that to ensure the loopholes aren’t big enough to where we effectively don’t have a cap."

In addition, the Alpine boss warns against acquiring knowledge through other sporting disciplines in which some teams operate alongside F1. He fears that one can develop certain tools or technologies elsewhere, and then deploy them in F1 without having to justify a large amount of money. "That’s the kind of stuff we have to start thinking about to stop, which is much bigger than just the inflationary stuff," Szafnauer said.