Team boss warns FIA about teams colluding: 'Advantage is massive'

With Racing Point's pink Mercedes drama still fresh in the memory, the FIA has been keeping a close eye on teams that quietly exchange information in an attempt to get ahead of the competition for some time now. Alpine team principal Marcin Budkowski is not reassured by this, however, as in a new interview, he calls on the FIA to take an even stricter approach to teams attempting to collaborate to endure the pain of the regulation switch in 2022.

"Going into 2022, a massive change in regulations, big development slope, lots of performance being gained on these cars, very green fresh set of regulations, the benefits you can get from collaboration, whether it's legal or less so, are massive", the team boss is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com

Budkowski continues his plea, though he won't name names. "And if there's a year where these kinds of collaborations can pay off, it's this year, for 2022. So clearly, if there's a year where we expect the FIA to be really all over it, it's this year."

Ideal situation

Budkowski is also angered by the fact that collaboration between teams is allowed at all, given that he believes it is not for the benefit of the fans or the sport. "The Formula 1 I think we'd all like to see is 10 teams or 11, or 12, in the future, that just fight each other mercilessly and are just there for their own sporting success."

"From the moment that teams have a common interest in exchanging information, that's a problem, because it shouldn't be the case, you shouldn't be helping your competitors", the team boss concluded.