F1 analysis: Why budget cap calls won't go away

Almost six years to the day that the FIA issued a statement explaining why a voluntary budget cap was the only way forward for F1, the topic is back in the spotlight again.

But while former FIA president Max Mosley's revisiting of the proposal to offer competitive benefits for financial restriction is not new, what is interesting is why F1 has been unable to forget the concept.

An FIA statement issued on April 30, 2009 said: "Two main philosophies have emerged, either i) reduce activity levels through very restrictive technical rules, plus a degree of standardisation if required; or ii) restrict the money that teams are allowed to spend (cost capping).

"The FIA believes that unfettered technical competition is part of Formula 1's DNA, and would like to see this flourish, but in an environment of strong, responsible and innovative management, not a spending race.

"For these reasons cost capping is preferred."

Those words still ring true today, and wouldn't fans love seeing teams given huge technical freedom again on track if they agreed to have a bit of restriction in their accounts offices instead?

The 2009 plan was eventually shelved in the wake of a serious threat from teams like Ferrari and Red Bull to quit F1.

Other attempts at a budget cap have also failed - most recently last year when the big teams on the Strategy Group vetoed the idea because they believed it could not be policed.

But despite the setbacks, the budget cap idea keeps returning to the F1 agenda because it is perhaps the only way to bring down costs that actually brings benefit.

Cost-cutting rule changes have produced short-term small gains over the years, but over the longer term they serve to stymie innovation and teams inevitably find other areas to spend their money on - and budgets are now at an all-time high.

Last year, during a lengthy interview at his London house, Mosley told me that one of his big regrets was not pushing the budget cap through in 2009 when he had the chance.

He was adamant then, just as he is now, that a cost cap is the only answer to F1's ills.

"Eventually I realised that it didn't matter what we did with the regulations," he reflected.

"We demonstrated that you cannot control costs through regulations. We had to bring in a cost cap."

Perhaps the mood for accepting one now is different, amid concerns about the impact of rising costs and falling spectator figures in F1.

Intriguingly the biggest criticism of the plan in 2009 - that it would create a two-tier F1 - appears to have been weakened by support over recent weeks for plans for V8 engines to race alongside turbo V6s.

For now though, much will depend on whether or not there is enough of an appetite for a voluntary budget cap among teams for it to get tabled for discussion ahead of May 14's Strategy Group meeting.

The bigger outfits will almost certainly be resistant to the idea, amid fears that it could cost them a competitive advantage.

But that there has not been a better answer to cut costs in six years tells you everything you need to know about why it may still be the most sensible solution after all.