Seven F1 teams could pull out of races because of budget cap, Christian Horner claims

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has warned as many as seven teams may have to pull out of races this season to meet Formula ‘s budget cap.

The cap has fallen to £111 million in the 2022 season compared to the £115m in 2021. Horner says the governing body the FIA should increase the budget to reflect inflation rises and that they have a “duty of care” to ensure the teams can finish the campaign.

“Seven of the teams would probably need to miss the last four races to come within the cap this year,’ he said, as perBBC Sport. “It’s not just about the big teams. It’s teams in the middle of the field who are really struggling with inflationary issues. The FIA has a duty of care. I know they are taking it seriously.

“Energy bills, costs of living, costs are going exponentially, and F1 is not exempt. Freight has quadrupled and that’s not something we can control.”

But some of the other team bosses don’t share Horner’s want to increase the cap and say they budgeted for the inflation costs.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said: “We’ve set our budgets early, we kind of anticipated a little bit of the inflation. Inflation didn’t just creep up on us. If we can do it, for sure others can do it too. I’m not for just increasing the cap.”

Formula 1 chiefs are looking into the issue as they recognise the materials teams have to pay for are more expensive than they anticipated. F1’s managing director Ross Brawn says a solution to the problem is on the horizon.

“I think the inflationary increase needs to be reviewed,” Brawn said, as per motorsport.com. “Because when these rules were developed, inflation was relatively low and predictable, and now it’s high and unpredictable.

“And if you look at the inflation rates that apply to industrial enterprises, like an F1 team, you’ve got power, you’ve got raw materials, you got all the things which are proving to be quite expensive at the moment. So I think there’s a solution coming on that.”