24/03/2023
NEWS STORY
Under Liberty, F1 has the budget cap that the likes of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley were unable to impose. However, rather than levelling the field it is doing the exact opposite, thereby frustrating the teams and fans.
Ignoring, for now, the plights of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, and the potential for silliness at Red Bull, the real feelgood story of 2023 has to be Aston Martin.
How many fans switched off in anger and frustration on Sunday when Fernando Alonso appeared to have been robbed of his second successive podium due to the over eagerness of one of his crew? Then came the news that the Spaniard had been reinstated... Teflonso strikes again.
The success of Aston Martin in the opening races has been good for the sport, for it shows a true underdog - are you listening Toto, Christian? - can win through.
Then again, wasn't that always Lawrence Stroll's plan, to create a team that could challenge for titles?
The foundations were laid with Racing Point, as the Canadian sought to put the dark days of Force India and just about every other incarnation of the old Jordan team firmly in the past.
Stroll has big ambitions for Aston Martin and, unlike some of the more vocal elements of Planet Paddock, has put his money where his mouth is.
However, as for challenging for titles, he can forget it.
In the 'good old days', buoyed by what he has witnessed in the opening two races, Stroll would have dug deep and found the money needed to take his team forward those precious few extra steps.
However, the budget cap won't allow that.
Imagine that the podiums continue, by mid-season Mike Krack will be (understandably) moaning that if it wasn't for the budget cap the team would be challenging for race wins, possibly the championship should the Bulls continue to squabble and Mercedes and Ferrari play catch up.
And speaking of Mercedes and Ferrari, both have to make major changes, but like Aston Martin are limited by the cap and therefore, unlike days gone by, are unable to spend their way out of their respective holes.
Meanwhile, Red Bull, which started with the dominant package last year, because the regulations are locked in until 2026 seems set to stay in the lead.
Now other teams may well be able to get to grips with the regs over the next few years but they won't be able to devote additional resources to this because of the cap. At the same time, Red Bull is likely to get to grips with the regs even better so its lead is likely to increase.
This is actually the biggest flaw with the cap - the FIA/FOM foolishly thought that limiting spending was all it took to put the teams on the same level when actually it doesn't address the biggest discrepancy between them.
Red Bull hasn't won all its titles over the years just because it had a blockbuster budget but because it had Adrian Newey designing its cars.
Yes, Red Bull has to pay Newey a fortune and he has access to the most advanced facilities in F1 but this was all bought during the decades of unchained spending.
Newey, who has designed championship winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull... and let's not forget IndyCar, amassed his vast knowledge when there was no cap on spending so he could use the best facilities in the business.
The second the budget cap was introduced, this knowledge didn't disappear because it's in his head, think Horner and Marko's recent comments regarding Dan Fallows.
The real value in any business is in its people consequently it is somewhat insulting that the FIA/FOM thinks that capping spending is all it takes to put teams on a level playing field.
And let's not forget, Newey's salary, vast as it no doubt is, will be one of those excluded from the cap.
Of course, the staff at Ferrari and Mercedes have also retained all the knowledge they gained during the decades of unchained spending. Those teams are still at the sharp end of the grid (even though they aren't winning races) because they were the biggest spenders before the cap.
In other words, the cap has changed nothing. The only exception being Aston Martin, but as explained above, it doesn't have a hope of catching Red Bull because of the cap.
So what does this all mean? You have Aston which has no hope of catching Red Bull and Mercedes which can't spend its way out of its hole.
In short, the cap is preventing competition because it has reduced the chances of Red Bull being challenged.
Yes, there have been plenty of seasons of dominance in the past, think Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, however there was no cap to prevent rivals from catching up.
Sadly, nobody in Planet Paddock will publicly agree with this, instead insisting that all moves under Liberty have been positive, but privately they'll agree with every single word.