Tost: 'This is why I'm for a salary cap'

The salary cap. One of the many rules used for the first time this year. The teams in front, like Mercedes and Red Bull, suffer more from this than teams like Haas and Williams. Scuderia AlphaTauri would also benefit from the current salary cap. Franz Tost, team principal of Red Bull's sister team, is certainly positive about it. Yet he also sees challenges. This he says in an extensive interview with auto-motor-und-sport.

"In general, I am in favour of a limit on drivers' salaries. We have an upper limit on the chassis. We have one on the engine. Why shouldn't there be one for the drivers? The problem is very simple: how do you manage something like this? You could say that the drivers have to show the adjustment of the annual income. This is possible in all countries where it is controlled by the tax office, but not in Monaco. Or in other countries where this tax does not exist. Therefore, control is the biggest question mark for me," said the Austrian.

Tost sees the value of the drivers

Yet Tost also knows that such a salary cap has an impact on the drivers and what they are paid. Especially the names that are the face of the sport, like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Tost understands that they ultimately have to put the quality of the car into practice and that this is of great value to the team.

"Such a driver makes the difference. As a team boss I have to ask myself the question: do I invest in such a driver, to whom I pay 15 million, or do I put the money into development. If you have a driver who is half a second faster, you have reached a very different status in terms of potential than developing through technology. Because you've spent 15 million in one go. That's actually the main argument."

Tost sees a solution

But where Tost also questions the limit, he may also have the solution. "I would take the driver's salary into the budget ceiling. Because only then do I have the guarantee that there will be a balance. If it's outside, the team just has to find the money. Otherwise, everything stays the same."

But, Tost adds, "I'm only assuming my level of knowledge. There are financial professionals who know these problems. It's possible in America. So why not with us? But you can only check it properly when you see the proof of income at the end of the year. That has to be shown. Such a thing does not exist in countries where there is no taxation. This must then be done on a voluntary basis. It affects exactly the drivers who currently live there. They won't. You could possibly write it into the regulations. There are talks with the FIA and the financial experts. You just have to wait to see what comes out of it." So a lot of question marks still for the Austrian, but possibilities abound.