Verstappen and Leclerc among the last big deals in F1: "Budget cap is a joke"

Because of the current budget cap, which will be lowered even more after this year, the pressure for a salary ceiling for the drivers is increasing. Teams will not be allowed to pay their drivers more than thirty million in total, although it is likely that there will be ways around this.

Former Lotus team principal Matthew Carter believes there is still a lot to be done about the current budget ceiling. "The current budget cap is a joke," he says on the Missed Apexpodcast. "It doesn't include the salaries of the five highest-paid employees, the drivers and marketing, for example." He, therefore, sees the current budget ceiling mainly as a first step towards more complete restrictions.

Carter thinks that the salary of the drivers should also be taken into account in the budget ceiling. He thinks only a few drivers will really suffer. "Apart from Lewis Hamilton's one-year contract, the contracts of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc will be the last big deals ever made in Formula One," he explained.

Verstappen has a contract until the end of 2023 at Red Bull Racing, while Leclerc has signed with Ferrari until the end of 2024. After this, they may have to give up some of their salary, although teams will probably find ways to work around that. According to Carter, it is up to the FIA to prevent that from happening.