F1 team chief hits out at FIA over MAJOR decision

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F1 team chief hits out at FIA over MAJOR decision

F1 teams are reportedly furious over the changes being made

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson

Monday 25 November 2024 08:27

A Formula 1 team principal has hit out at the FIA over a major proposed change to the regulations ahead of 2026.

Back in October, reports emerged that the FIA had agreed to introduce a salary offset in the cost cap from 2026 onwards, with one chief's comments now highlighting the controversial issue.

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This change was reportedly proposed in order to accommodate Sauber — who become Audi from 2026 — due to the high cost of living in Switzerland, where the team are based.

Speaking to the media at the United States Grand Prix, FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis explained: "It is our responsibility to be fair,"

"It became obvious to us that salaries in certain countries are much, much higher and cost of life is much higher in certain countries.

"I see it myself, I live in Geneva. Whenever I go to the supermarket I think about it. And we felt that a team based in a high labour-cost country like Switzerland would end up having approximately 30 per cent or even 40 per cent fewer people working on the car, which we felt was fundamentally unfair."

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Tombazis added: "So, that's why there's an adjustment in the financial regulations for 2026 which will basically adjust the salaries that gets considered in the cost gap by some factors that get determined by OECD data, data that's available to the world,"

"As we get data from teams, we know that this OECD data is very consistent with the salary differences that exist within Formula 1 context and amongst the engineers of teams. So it's not just OECD data."

Haas chief hits out at FIA

The above change is yet to be finalised due to the opposition from teams, reports claim, and now, Haas team principal Komatsu has hit out at the FIA for continuing to push for it to happen.

"In F1 Commission meetings, apart from Sauber funnily enough, everybody's against it, so I don't know why FIA is just completely pushing for it," Komatsu explained when talking to the media.

Haas chief Ayao Komatsu claims teams are against the cost cap offset

"Then you have to say, how about those guys in Italy? Ferrari, RB's got some facilities in Italy as well. And also we have a half-Italian facility, half-UK facility, where do you stop?"

Komatsu went on to add: "Unless you look at every single dimension, it's very, very difficult to make it completely fair,"

"Can you look at every single dimension? I don't think so."

GPFans has contacted the FIA for comment.

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