Formula 1 teams set to receive $1.2m budget cap bonus

Formula One teams can expect a $1.2 million bonus on top of the budget cap. This is due to the late cancellation of the Japan Grand Prix, which shortens the calendar to 22 races.

It is not the only race that was cancelled, but for other events the organisation was able to find a replacement in time. This is not the case for Japan, so the teams have a financial windfall.

The budget cap is based on a limit of 145 million dollar, but that applies in case of 21 races in a season. For each additional race, an amount of 1.2 million dollars is added. The budget cap rules have a clause stating that if a race is cancelled less than three months in advance it will still count towards the budget cap.

This means a financial windfall for Red Bull Racing, who claim to have suffered a $1.8 million loss as a result of Max Verstappen's crash at Silverstone. Ferrari will be happy as well: for the Italian team the bill for the first half of the season amounted to 3 million dollar.