“We Don’t Want the Championship to Be Decided in Court”: Christian Horner Drops Six-Month Ultimatum on $130 Million F1 Problem

F1 introduced a new budget cap ahead of the 2022 season. They have restricted the teams to use a sum of $140 million to use this season. But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner fears that might not be possible for the teams.

As things stand, there is an 11 percent projected inflation in the UK, where most teams are based. This has made it very hard for teams to develop the parts and not exceed the budget cap. The rise in costs has made it almost impossible for several teams to operate under the budget cap of $140 million.

Horner revealed that inflation has hit the market hard and made it difficult to operate under the cap. “What we’re seeing in the world right now is that we’ve lost control of the inflationary costs that are hitting households around the world.

In the UK, projected inflation is 11 percent. […] It has a direct impact on our personnel, raw materials, electricity, goods, and supplied parts. I think it’s a serious situation that the FIA ​​has to deal with,” said the Red Bull team boss. [Translated by Google]

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The Brit further revealed that FIA has six months to react before it becomes an issue.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explains the seriousness of the budget cap issue

Horner mentioned FIA has six months to find a solution as they don’t want to win a championship in the court. He also hinted that there might be several protests at the end of the season because of the limit on the budget cap.

“We don’t want a championship to be decided in court or in Paris before the FIA. […] We have six months to tackle this and we have to act now and we have to find a solution to this problem.”

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“Nobody could have foreseen it. We have the cost cap during the pandemic dropped $35 million and nobody could have foreseen the problems we’re having now,” said Horner.

It is indeed a very serious issue that needs addressing. FIA needs to intervene and help the teams, but it is a very delicate subject. They would need to work out all the angles before making any decisions. Hopefully, they can find a solution to the budget cap restraints before it is too late.