Mercedes: Budget cap "unrealistic" for big teams

09:35, 07 Apr 2018
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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff thinks that the budget cap that Liberty Media has suggested of 150 million dollars per year is too much of a discount, as the German team currently would have to half their operating budget from 2021 on.
Wolff would want to compromise, but he told Sky Sports F1 that it's not possible for the big teams to suddenly operate on such a small budget in a few years time, as 150 million dollars wouldn't cover everything you have to take into account to function successfully.
"You have to take this number into perspective," Wolff said.
"Marketing isn't included, for example, as are the drivers and a list of other things.
"As a manufacturer, there's also a lot of things we do for our customers with our budget, so I think the proposed cap is too low."
Wolff did stress that he would want to sit down with Liberty Media to find a solution for both parties because he does understand where the owners of the F1 are coming from. The idea of the budget cap is to decrease the gap between the big teams and the smaller teams, for whom it is now impossible to compete financially (and therefore competitively) with the massive teams that lead the table.