Zak Brown on Formula 1 budget caps: It doesn't take a lot of money to give a good show

Formula 1

Brown on budget caps: It doesn't take a lot of money to give a good show

$175 million is a lot...

Martin Macdonald

Wednesday 19 June 2019 08:55

McLaren chief Zak Brown believes that the proposed budget cap of $175 million for every team in Formula 1, per season, is still a lot of money, and believes that entertaining racing can be achieved by an even smaller budget.

In 2021, regulations are going to be introduced with the aim of leveling the playing field in the sport, so that the performance gap between elite teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull compared to the rest of the grid is shortened.

Part of the regulations will be a budget cap, which is rumoured to be $175 million - a significant reduction in spending for the elite teams.

Brown thinks it could, arguably, be lower.

“It’s still a big sum,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

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“The most important thing is to give the fans a good show. I do not think it takes so much money to do that.

“So why not let the 10 teams compete on a similar budget?

“That would make the sport less predictable, bring more surprises. In the end, the best will win either way.

“Take a look at IndyCar. The Penskes, Ganassis and Andrettis still win the championship. But they do not win all the races. There are now and then winners from other teams.

“That’s good for the sport. A lower budget would allow for that.”

With regards to other changes being proposed, Brown admits that he isn’t happy with all of them, but can’t see there being any more widespread alterations to the proposal.

“Nothing in the document was a surprise. We’ve been talking about these rules for quite some time,” he continued.

“Of course there are things that I would like to see done differently. I think others feel the same. But I cannot imagine that much will be changed.

“There is still fine tuning but it makes no sense to fight for changes where there will be no changes. That is wasted energy.”

After seven races, Brown’s team, McLaren, are fourth in the constructors’ championship for 2019.