Sebastian Vettel Labels the Ongoing F1 Crisis as “Extreme”

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel gave his thoughts on the ongoing budget cap debate between F1 teams. The German driver believes teams need to “look out for each other” amidst the financial crisis. F1 recently held another budget cap meeting but it didn’t result in a meaningful outcome.

Sebastian Vettel lends his support to the smaller teams

With the F1 calendar on hold due to Coronavirus, teams are facing a financial crunch due to the lack of racing. Unless teams compete in races, sponsors withhold payments. The lack of funds hurts future car development and creates a financial crisis for all the teams. However, it’s the smaller teams that endure a bigger blow financially when compared to the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes.

To mitigate the effect of the crisis and level the playing field, teams are pushing for a reduced cap in 2021. From 2021, F1 will enforce a financial ceiling on car development, which currently stands at $175M. According to many reports, teams have agreed to a lowered cap of $150M but the midfield wants another revision.

The smaller teams are nudging towards a lowered cap of $100-125M, which the top 3 are against.

If Formula 1 doesn’t sort out its finances soon, teams like Williams and Haas could potentially disappear from the sport. Vettel stressed the importance of preventing smaller teams from going under.

“With the new regulations, the idea is to bring the field closer together,” said Vettel as quoted by Autosport.

“So if this special situation in a way would help the sport to come closer together in order to then have better racing and a better sport, then that would be a good side effect I would say,”

“But definitely, for some of the smaller teams, this situation is putting them [and] their existence in question, and it’s quite extreme. So, you know, as a family of Formula 1, I think we ought to look out for each other.”

Vettel admitted that deferring the technical regulations was the right call. Despite Ferrari not having the best car right now, the German stood by the decision.

“I think postponing the rules to 2022, the new set of regulations, and then still discussing some of it for ’21, the what and how and so on, I think is the right approach,”