Toto Wolff Responds to ‘Stubborn’ F1 Rivals Against Budget Cap Increase: “The Worst for the Sport…”

Toto Wolff has spoken out about the budget cap that affects his team’s salaries. With the UK facing inflation, the Mercedes team boss wants to see a salary hike. However, this is not accepted without challenge by smaller teams who believe that the advantage is going to the bigger teams.

Wolff further criticized the stance some teams like Haas are taking on the situation. He insisted on how the teams have a wrong impression and assured that he does not want to “scr*w them” or anyone else. However, with little opportunity in the current budget cap, the boss has to take a stand for his team.

Toto Wolff gives insight into wages issues

F1’s staff wages are included in the $140million budget cap. But with the current situation, where teams are running tight on everything, the staff might face a brutal hit despite increased salaries. Sadly, even a wage increase dilutes to the soaring inflation for many teams that are based in the UK.

Wolff, in a recent interview, explained: “It’s not that we want to generate more profit, it’s literally allowing people to have their salaries compensated for the extraordinary inflation they are suffering from.”

He further said, “I think the worst for the sport is having a stubborn position that some of the smaller teams think that the big ones are trying to gain an advantage and we’re actually going to scr*w them by not allowing them to do this and us on the other side seeking to lift the ceiling, which we don’t want to do.”

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Inflation has been a key topic in many big teams right now. They’re arguably even more concerned about their team’s compensation regarding the unfortunate issues.

Mercedes has increased energy costs

Wolff further claimed that team Mercedes had to go through some painful decisions. The Brackley outfit has had to make redundancies in order to incorporate the proper budget cap.

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Wolff revealed, “I think what we can demonstrate is very easy, our energy costs in Brackley have gone up from £2.5m to £6.5m, our freight costs in a similar way, I think it’s two to six. Black and white, you can follow that on the accounts, look at it in the P&L [profit and loss].”

Alongside a struggle for making their car more competitive, this could potentially affect the team even more. So, with Wolff’s comments, do you agree that the budget cap needs to change? Should the wages be increased? Or something else can help the teams out?