Toto Wolff and Christian Horner reveal "pain" of axing staff to accommodate F1 budget cap

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner in conversation in Bahrain — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes - Red Bull

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Wolff and Horner reveal "pain" of axing staff to accommodate F1 budget cap

Both teams were forced to radically cut numbers

Ian Parkes

Friday 2 April 2021 18:05

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner have both revealed the "pain" they went through over the winter making large numbers of staff redundant in order to accommodate Formula 1's budget cap.

Over the years, the two teams have continued to grow as F1's battle for supremacy has raged, which eventually resulted in the sport deciding to finally impose the cap.

For this year, the figure stands at $145million, although there are exemptions such as the drivers and the top-three highest wage earners, with $140m for next season and $135m for 2023-2025.

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In order to meet the cap, the 'big three' in Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari have had no choice but to make staff redundant.

With Red Bull now operating on staff numbers "in the 800s", according to Horner, he added: "We’ve had to go through the pain of redundancies over the winter.

"We’ve had to re-size, re-package ourselves and it’s really tough when you’re saying goodbye to members of the team, some of which have been there for 25 years across its different formats.

"So it’s really been a tough exercise and continues to be a significant challenge, particularly for the bigger teams.

"It drives efficiency into the business because it quite simply has to. Head count is your biggest cost. Therefore, it has to be as efficient as you can possibly make it."

Wolff has confirmed to experiencing a similar situation, particularly at a time when so much focus was being placed upon whether he would be retaining the team's most expensive asset in Lewis Hamilton.

Asked whether what he went through was as painful as it was for Horner, Wolff replied: "Absolutely.

"You cannot secure your capability in terms of people if you suddenly have to operate under a drastic cost cap.

"We go through the same painful experiences with consultations in order to make the cost cap. To say the least, it is not trivial."