Aston Martin reveal hidden budget cap benefit

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has lifted the lid on the unseen benefit of the F1 budget cap.

Teams have been denied the opportunity to throw as much money and as many parts as possible at their cars after the sport introduced a budget cap ahead of the 2021 season.

This meant that while design work could be completed within the aerodynamic testing restrictions, various components or ideas never made it to the track.

As a consequence, McCullough is confident teams will still be trying new ideas next term rather than lining up with 20 Red Bull-esque cars on the grid at the Bahrain season opener.

"I think the cost cap has been really an interesting part of that this year," he said.

"I know for sure at our team, and I'm sure a lot of the other teams as well, you've not been able to update, develop, change the car as much during the season as we have done in the past.

"When I look at the wind tunnel model of our own car, it is quite different to what we have now. In past years, you'd have brought more of that to the track sooner. So I think other teams will be in a similar situation.

"So I think the cost cap will mean that people have been working away on ideas that they've not been able to bring to the track and that people haven't seen, and therefore there will still be a few differences at the start of next year."

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