The 2023 Formula 1 season has been a rollercoaster for Alpine—from getting a wake-up call from CEO Laurent Rossi to receiving a $218 million investment, courtesy of Ryan Reynolds and his group of investors, to now sacking the same man who gave the team the wake-up call it needed, and, more importantly, helped receive the much-needed investment; it’s all happened this season. Last night, Alpine relieved Laurent Rossi of his team’s CEO duties. He had a vision for the team—to use Reynolds’ multi-million dollar investment and help the team return to its glory days, the ones that saw Fernando Alonso become a two-time world champion. But, unfortunately, Alpine had other plans for him.

Even though the Enstone outfit sacked its CEO, its vision is the same one Rossi built. And to fulfill that vision, Alpine is doing what Rossi wanted to do—invest in the team’s future. According to a Twitter source, Alpine is going to invest part of the funding in its Enstone factory to expand it. In an interview after the British GP, Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer said, “We’re in the midst of improving our manufacturing facilities. We’ve purchased a state-of-the-art simulator. There’s a building that’s going in. There’s also a high human performance area that is being developed. Now we’re looking at other simulation tools that we need.” [Translated by Google] While Alpine isn’t short of funding right now, there’s a money-related obstacle still in its path—the $135 million budget cap.

Under the current budget cap CapEx rules, teams can build new factories without the cost of them eating into their cost caps, but investing in any other equipment—like simulation tools, in Alpine’s case—contributes to the spending. And this is posing a problem for Alpine. Szafnauer added, “Once we get the go-ahead from the FIA to raise the CapEx part of the cost cap, in order to level the playing field, then we’ll be adding those simulation tools.”

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Considering the cost cap rules came into place only in 2021, teams that had the infrastructure in place before then have an advantage over teams like Alpine, which has to keep the budget cap in mind at all times. To curb this issue, the FIA is in talks with the teams.

Alpine Boss Vouches for CapEx to be part of the budget cap

The entire concept of the budget cap was based on leveling the playing field, but with the CapEx rules in place, some teams have an advantage over others. So the point of the cost cap is defeated. Teams have brought this issue up with the FIA—to increase the investment cap a little—and the body has taken it into consideration. 

When Szafnauer was asked what he thinks the FIA should increase the investment cap by, he said, “I think we need to open it up between $20 and $40 million in investment in order to level the playing field with all the teams. Just a one-time [increase] here, ‘you can spend 40 million over your cost cap over a time period and before 2026’.” [Translated by Google] The 2026 season will bring more regulation changes, so Szafnauer suggested that the cost cap increment should ideally last until the new regulations come into play.

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