Brown: "Anything related to the performance of the car should be in budget cap"

Zak Brown does not yet agree with the plan for the budget cap that will come in F1. According to the CEO of McLaren, the current budget cap is still far too high, which will cause the coronavirus teams to leave F1. In an interview with Forbes Brown says what measures he thinks will be necessary.

"I think everything related to the performance of the car, think of engine, driver and the like, should be in the budget cap," Brown says. "I'm in favour of the idea of putting everything together in a big pot". However, Brown hopes that things that have nothing to do with the performance of the team will be kept outside the cap. "Things like marketing and motorhomes aren't part of performance because they don't make you faster and are part of your brand's DNA."

More technical freedom

"So if you want to spend twice as much on your motorhome, you should do it. It's not going to make you faster, but if that's what you have to do to attract sponsors, then do it". The sponsors and the branding of the team shouldn't be part of the budget cap, according to Brown. "I think that part of Formula 1 is to advertise the teams, so that should be outside the budget."

Brown expects the budget cap to provide a smarter spending decision. "The ideal scenario is that there will be a lower budget cap with more technical freedom, because then you can really see who is making the best use of the available money. Then you get another issue: I want to pay a driver $20 million and spend $10 million on my car or do I want to spend $20 million on my car and $10 million on my driver? That's part of the DNA of Formula 1, how do I spend my money right," Brown says.