Haas F1 Boss Steiner in Disagreement With Ferrari Counterpart Over Controversial Cost Cap

One of the most talked about aspects of the ongoing F1 season is the new cost cap. This limits each team to a budget of $145million for the entire season. Recently, Red Bull and Ferrari questioned the cost cap after incurring enormous sums of damage costs in recent races.

However, Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner rebuked their comments on amending the cost cap.

Guenther Steiner opposes Ferrari by speaking in favor of the cost cap

Silverstone saw title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen race hard on the opening lap. However, contact between the two cars at Copse corner ended the Dutchman’s race. To make matters worse, Red Bull revealed repairing the car cost them $1.8million.

Ferrari, on the other hand, saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz involved in a few crashes. The most prominent one is the Monaco Grand Prix, where Leclerc took pole despite crashing in the final seconds of Q3. Overall, Binotto claimed the Italian outfit incurred damage costs worth 2.5million euros.

Binotto admitted the cost cap needs reviewing since teams incur costs when it’s no fault of theirs. He said, “I think it’s certainly an important point because the reason why I mentioned 2.5m euros is to show that overall the damage can be significant. 

“I think that certainly there are no obvious solutions, but it is something that no doubt we will discuss with the FIA, F1 and teams in the coming weeks, possibly to address it, to see if there is any solution for the future.”

However, Haas Team Principal Steiner gave an opinion which differed from Binotto’s, admitting there should be no changes. He said, “I think we need to live with that, we need to budget for this,” said Steiner. “We need to be flexible enough.”

READ MORE: Why Did Ferrari Sign Carlos Sainz?

Steiner: It’s part of racing

While disagreeing with Binotto, Steiner admitted crashes are part of racing and the cost cap shouldn’t accommodate more adjustments.

“I think it is part of racing and will be part of how much risk you take in a race and whatever you do,” said Steiner. “So I think it is part of racing the crashes. You cannot adjust the budget or regulation on how many crashes you have got because for me, it doesn’t feel like any change is needed on this one.”

While F1 is now in its summer break, various teams will look to bounce back in the Belgian Grand Prix. However, with some teams incurring heavy damage costs, their progression later this season remains to be seen.

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