We need a unit of measure to assess the extent of improvements throughout the season. This was said by the head of the Haas team, Guenther Steiner , who has always been very frank and honest, and provided us with a grotesque figure: 10 million dollars (just under 9.5 million euros).
This would be the average value of the budget that the teams could invest in the evolution of the 2022 single-seaters, so we are talking about an “important treasure”, even if it is a relatively low percentage compared to the stipulated limit of 140 million dollars ( about 132 million euros at the current exchange rate), not counting the premiums usually granted by the FIA.
Obviously, there is no cap on what they want to spend in terms of development, but depending on the different characteristics of each team, the figure can vary, and some believe that it will not exceed the barrier of 10 million dollars .
Therefore, it is easier to understand the statements of Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto after the Miami Grand Prix:
“I have always said that we should have waited five races to assess the competitiveness of the cars. Now that those five races have been run and we are leading both championships, we should not be disappointed, but it is true that Red Bull has improved its car by introducing updates “.
“If I look at the last two races, they have taken us about two tenths, and to be up to date we will have to introduce improvements. There is also a budget limit, and at some point, Red Bull will have to stop developing, but in the next few It will be up to us to update the car”.
Ferrari will introduce important improvements at the Spanish Grand Prix to try to counteract the pace of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez’s RB18: “In Barcelona we could have an important package, as always, I hope that the novelties that are introduced have the expected performance and can be a good push to catch up with Red Bull”.
Red Bull Racing RB18 diffuser detail
The Swiss director then insisted that the issue is not about performance, but stems from spending limits: “We don’t have enough money to spend and bring updates to every grand prix. It’s not a question of capacity, but everything it depends on the budget limits. We have to make improvements when we think the time is right.”
Red Bull’s double splitter copied from the Ferrari F1-75 and first introduced by Aston Martin
The teams mark and monitor each other, and with the “price list” that the FIA has defined in the financial regulations, it is not impossible to account for the development expense in the first five grands prix of the season, there are those who say that Red Bull has already exceeded 75% of those 10 million dollars that we mentioned before, and Mercedes would have already gone further, so the package of news from the Brackley team will take to Barcelona could be the last of the significant ones.
Ferrari, for its part, has so far kept an F1-75 similar to the car that debuted in Bahrain, so it can now bring to the table a series of novelties, not only aerodynamic, that should allow it to return to its technical challenge with the of Milton Keynes. The important thing will be that all the new parts work, because you can’t throw money away.
