Adrian Newey Criticizes Formula 1 Budget Caps and Impact on Talent Acquisition – RacingNews365

Adrian Newey, the famed race car designer who heads Red Bull Racing’s engineering department, is unhappy with one of the consequences of championship teams moving to tighter budgets, which has only gotten worse over time.

Starting in 2021, each team can spend no more than $145 million per season, and the only exceptions that are not taken into account are marketing expenses and the salaries of the three highest paid employees. However, every year the budget limit is adjusted in accordance with inflation and, for example, the global increase in energy prices.

In order to meet tight budgets, some teams were forced to make some staff cuts or formally transfer some employees to other jobs not directly related to the Formula 1 programs. The FIA ​​was then forced to issue a special directive to prevent such attempts to circumvent the current restrictions.

On the one hand, the transition to such budgets did not prevent Red Bull Racing from dominating the world championship, on the other, according to Newey, there are some unintended consequences that affect the entire Formula 1.

“I think the hidden threat associated with tight budgets, which none of us probably thought about when we first moved to budgets, is that Formula 1 is no longer an engineering industry with the highest salaries,” Newey emphasized in an interview with RacingNews365. – Accordingly, if earlier we could invite the most talented university graduates, attracting them with such salaries, now, after the transition to limited budgets, we cannot do this. Especially considering the inflation rate…

At the same time, technology startups are emerging with very high salaries, so now when we approach universities in an attempt to attract young specialists, we can no longer offer the best conditions.

The same applies to team employees who move to other technology companies, and this is a serious problem because it creates difficulties not only for our team, but for the whole of Formula 1.

It is already difficult for us to invite the best engineers in the world. We still try to do that, but we appeal to their passion for motorsport rather than attracting them with the highest salaries.”

Various discussions between teams and the FIA ​​on the current financial restrictions are ongoing, but so far there is no information that any significant changes are expected in this area.