How F1's new era has exposed the downside of its most important rule

Forget Netflix, embracing social media or the switch to ground-effect cars. When it comes to singling out the most important step change that Formula 1 has made in recent years, it is the introduction of the cost cap.

The new spending limits that came in as part of an emergency package introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic have played their part in helping secure the long-term survival of a grid that should be more compact. As Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer put it: "The smart teams now have a better chance of doing well. We are also saved from ourselves in not spending every bit of money we have, and money we don’t have, in trying to go faster.

"And because of all that, it gives better financial stability to the teams. That in turns attracts investment, so the whole system is better. Remember the Bernie [Ecclestone] days, where somebody was always about to go bankrupt or was asking for money? All that’s gone, and I think that’s really important."

But for all the good that has come from the cost cap, it would be wrong to think it has made F1 a utopia.

In fact, as teams have learned to operate under the cost cap and better understand both the opportunities and restrictions it imposes, it has become clear that there are some pretty significant downsides that have completely changed the nature of F1. Perhaps the biggest difference, which has been particularly exposed this season as a number of squads look to make hefty changes to their cars, is that it makes it harder to unleash a swift recovery.

In years gone by, any team which found itself struggling with its car, could simply get out the chequebook, and invest in a hefty design revamp. It would not be uncommon for squads early in the European season to have a B-spec car up-and-running.

The ability for teams to rip things up and start again always ensured a good ebb and flow to the season, and meant that the formbook was never predictable for too long. At each weekend there was always the potential for somebody to unleash that major development step.

Force India introduced the B-spec VJM08 for the 2015 British Grand Prix, which aided the team's push to secure fifth in the constructors' standings

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro

That has all stopped now, as teams have to carefully consider every update – no matter how small – just to make sure that they don’t bust their spending limit. While that is good for not spreading the field out, as the richer teams cannot keep digging into their pockets to spend their way to an even bigger advantage, it is not so positive when it comes to closing things up either.

F1 teams are now super mindful of spending. They don’t want to commit too much investment too early and are having to make compromises left, right and centre with every component. It means that the formbook is getting set in stone for much longer periods.

As Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough revealed in Saudi Arabia, his team has been locked into a wing set that is not perfect for overcoming Red Bull’s top speed advantage.

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"With the cost cap side of things, you can't have every wing that you want at every track," he said about Aston Martin not having the ability for an immediate response to Red Bull’s low-drag push. "We always start out with what’s the ultimate thing you would do, and then we have to say, 'What’s the most cost-effective thing to do?'"

Now, if you start with a winning car, you don’t have to move much as the others can hardly catch you up 

There is an argument that it’s a situation that rewards the smarter teams who get things right from the start, but equally F1 has always been about the opportunities of the development race. It used to be a case in F1 that if you stood still, you went backwards. Now, if you start with a winning car, you don’t have to move much as the others can hardly catch you up.

There is a longer-term locked-in factor too, and that comes from infrastructure legacy. While teams have been made equal in terms of the amount they can spend over the course of a season, some are more equal than others when it comes to what they are spending their money on.

As the cost cap was enforced from the start of 2021, it was the big money teams that still had the advantage through their superior facilities and equipment. And that is an advantage that rivals have found nigh on impossible to wipe away in the intervening period.

The cost cap limit includes the upgrading of factory equipment, which means any major investment in such capital expenditure has to come out of the car development budget. So the smaller teams don’t really have the opportunity to move forward, as they cannot afford to abandon all efforts to improve their current challenger. It’s something that new Williams boss James Vowles has become acutely aware of, after realising just how far behind his new squad is with its infrastructure.

Vowles has recognised how far Williams lags behind in its infrastructure compared to the top squads

Photo by: Williams

"There are some what I would consider basics, which are in place in other teams and have been since almost 15 years," he said. "For example, there are software systems that allow you to properly understand where all your parts are, and they simply don't exist [at Williams].

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"As a result of that, what impresses me is that before I joined, they've built the car you see in front of you, 15,000 pieces coming together fitting, working, and seemingly going around the track fairly quickly. That's an incredible accomplishment. But clearly, it’s not how we can move forward. So, we need systems in place and structures in place."

This is why Vowles has begun discussions at F1 Commission level about agreeing to some exemptions being allowed for capital expenditure in the cost cap beyond wind tunnels.

"I personally think if we want a meritocracy, we need the ability for my team to be given the chance to catch up with some of the big teams and have the same resources," he explained.

The frustrations of those wanting to catch up are clear, as they feel almost as if they are stuck in handcuffs compared to the freedoms of the old days. But ultimately, these downsides of the cost cap are a price worth paying for, given all the benefits that it has brought to the championship as a whole.

Cost cap restrictions don’t stop the final gains from happening, for teams are not limited in the ideas that they can bring into play. Instead, they are merely constrained to the timing of when they come. So, it is perhaps delaying resets from happening every few races, to them now holding fire until each winter.

McCullough says of Aston Martin’s major improvement this season, much of the progress was already in the pipeline throughout 2022 and, under the old regime, would have made its way on to last year’s car.

Some ideas that have helped move Aston Martin forwards might have appeared on last year's car in a pre-cost cap era

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

"There was a lot of stuff that happened last year which, from a cost cap side of things, we couldn't do," he explained. "In years gone by it would have made last year's car even quicker during the season, but now you just can't do so. In a way, with the cost cap side of things, you are starting afresh at the start of the next season."

It’s ultimately a change of rhythm for the speed at which recovery takes place; it’s not actually stopping the fightbacks entirely.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said of the cost cap rules: "They have been introduced exactly for the reason to put the field stronger together, which will eventually happen. I mean, Red Bull is showing us that if you do a good job you can outperform everybody else. But for us, these are the rules and we need to still do a better job."

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And it’s that last element – the meritocracy of ensuring that the people who do the best job come out on top – that still rings as true today as in the days of no cost cap when we had the B-specs and the bankruptcies.

Mercedes team principal Wolff says his team needs to do a better job to get on terms with Red Bull

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images