F1 civil war brewing as teams split over controversial rule change

The Formula 1 Commission will meet for the fourth time this year on Monday, with one topic expected to take up a sizeable portion of the meeting.

A proposal dubbed 'ADUO for teams' has been tabled for the meeting, a cause that James Vowles has been advocating for in a number of interviews over the last few months.

The idea is that teams who finish poorly in the constructors' championship should be given more spending room in the cost cap compared to the top four teams, with the Williams boss warning that the current system has actually locked in disadvantages for smaller teams.

Vowles claimed recently that teams outside the top four were roughly twice as likely to finish a race on the podium in the pre-cap era, pointing out that there's only been one race win from outside the Big 4 in the last 130 races – Sergio Perez's Sakhir victory in 2020, which, as Vowles pointed out, was the result of a huge mistake by his old Mercedes team.

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'ADUO for teams' unlikely to pass on Monday

The Race report that Vowles' proposal looks likely to lack required support to push the rule change through for 2027, needing six out of 11 teams (including his own) to back the proposal, but just four supporters would be enough to keep the keep the idea viable beyond next season.

Cadillac, Alpine, Aston Martin and Audi all appear to be on board, but Haas (who don't currently spend enough for the cost cap to be an active issue) and Racing Bulls are the non-Big 4 holdouts.

Vowles has said of the proposal: “What's more important to me, perhaps, is I have the support of the FIA and Formula 1 behind it. I don't think we have an accurate enough direction that we need to take it in, that is right for the sport, which is still being discussed behind the scenes.

“What I can say is the support is there. I don't think it's going to happen overnight. As I previously mentioned, what I want to make sure is that we get it right by the next regulation change, which is a little way off, so we have some time.

“But my suspicion on it is you'll see more and more being discussed over the next few months in that regard.”

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