Skip to content

Formula 1 increases budget cap to fight rising inflation after pressure from top teams

An extra 3.1 per cent has been added to previous budget cap after pressure from teams to account for rising inflation costs at an F1 commission meeting; watch the Austrian GP as Qualifying takes place at 4pm on Friday, with Sky Sports F1 build-up from 3.30pm

F1 cars baku
Image: An extra 3.1 per cent will be added to the 2022 budget to account for rising inflation costs

Formula 1's budget cap has been increased for 2022 to fight rising inflation.

Teams will now be allowed to spend 3.1 per cent more than the previous limit - which was set at $140m.

Top teams, including Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, had said soaring global inflation and unexpected world events, such as the war in Ukraine, had made it impossible for them to stay within the budget cap and called it a force majeure situation.

An F1 Commission meeting took place at the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg on Friday, where more progress was made than expected on the matter.

The 3.1 per cent increase was accepted by the required majority of teams, with only one unnamed outfit rejecting the proposal.

The FIA say the "compounding" of the rate for 2023 will "preserve the long-term integrity of the financial regulations".

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 afterwards: "The regulations say that if inflation is above 3 per cent, then you will adjust accordingly.

Also See:

Live Formula 1

"We had a time lag so it is a bit complicated to explain but we have got 3 per cent on top, which should cover a bit of the inflation... but not the freight and energy costs."

Also in the meeting, it was confirmed the introduction of a technical directive to control porpoising would be delayed until the Belgian GP.

The TD, a metric to measure bouncing which the FIA intended to have ready for the French GP, has been pushed back to give more teams time to comply.

Around Sky