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Lewis Hamilton & George Russell’s Boss Gives His Two Cents on $30 Million F1 Driver Salary Cap: “Has Come Up As A Controversial Topic”

Published 12/02/2022, 6:00 PM EST

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Formula 1 is blooming and has achieved a whole new level of popularity in the last few years. With the demand for the sport reaching new heights, the FIA has made some massive changes in Formula 1 to make it more exciting. One of those changes was the Budget cap that was first introduced for the 2021 season to bring the grid closer together. Now, this rule might be seeing a new change.

Currently, the cost caps do not include drivers’ salaries. And it seems, this has been an issue for team bosses. So Toto Wolff has decided to go vocal on this affair.

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The FIA’s budget cap has been a controversial issue since its announcement. Last year, the governing body gave a budget cap of $140 million. The idea behind this was to give smaller teams a chance to fight the bigger team. The budget cap came up with its pros and cons. And now, Toto Wolff has a new take as he wants the driver salary cap.

Talking to the Sun, he said, “It certainly has come up as a controversial topic. We can see we are facing a very difficult situation in F1 overall. The sport is booming and F1 is earning more money and that trickles down to the teams.”

via Reuters

Adding further about the inadequacy of the salaries, Wolff said, “But we have a cost cap. We have $140 million for 1,000 people. With inflation, we haven’t been able to even pay the inflation. The talk about a $30m or $40m salary allowance is inadequate when you take that perspective.”

Many drivers didn’t agree with the concern Toto Wolff raised. Even his team’s star driver has a contrary opinion.

Lewis Hamilton has a contrary opinion from Toto Wolff

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Wolff knew that his statement will not be well received by the drivers. Earlier, Max Verstappen termed the idea of having a salary cap as ‘completely wrong’. Even Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton also echoed the words of Verstappen, as he was of the opinion that a salary cap can negatively affect the younger generation, who are looking forward to make their way in the sport.

via Reuters

He said while talking to GP fans, “There is some merit in what was expressed [by Verstappen]. There are many of us here who were heavily invested in as youngsters and have had to pay that back, which you would naturally want to do anyway. And so that, for sure, could have an impact on the future for the younger generation.”

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WATCH THIS STORY: Mercedes React to FIA’s admission of “Human Error” in the Verstappen-Hamilton Scandal

This seems to be a serious situation and we have to wait till the FIA responds to the concern of the Mercedes team’s boss. Who do you think has the right stand? Is it Lewis, or is it his boss, Wolff?

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Written by:

Aditya Srivastava

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Aditya Srivastava is an F1 Author at EssentiallySports. Although he has completed his undergrad in History, due to his passion for the field, he couldn't hold himself back from entering the world of Sports Journalism. Being a huge fan of Formula 1, Aditya has taken up multiple internships and freelancing gigs where he got to pen down his thoughts about the most prestigious form of motor racing in the world.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh