GP RACING JULY 2020 55
PICTURES:GLENNDUNBAR;CARLBINGHAM;RACINGPOINT“WE NEEDTO ST AY ON COURSE, IMPLEMENT PROPERLY WHAT WE’VE DECIDED
TO DO – AND NOTSTART GIVING CONCESSIONS TO THE BIG TEAMS. I THINK
WE’VE LEARNED THINGS WE MUSTN’T FORGET WHEN THE GOOD TIMES RETURN.
THAT’S HOW WE’LL COME OUTSTRO NGER”
because wedon’t spend that today. But it’s a lot
harder to come down in costs than it is to expand
into a cost capthat you’re not at. From that
perspectivewe’re going to be in a better position
than some of the bigger teams who are having
to shed costs. It’s easier to find a way to spend
than it is to find efficiencieswhen you’re used to
spending for performance.
“So we’ll be in good shape when the cost cap
comes in – we’ll still be under it. But we won’t
be able to spend up to it, unless of coursewe
find some sponsors, which Aston Martin may be
able to help with because its journey back into
the sportwill be a grea t one – we’re expectingto
perf orm at a pretty good level.”
Inequalities will persist: big teams will
still have an advantage, even ifthey have to
slim down, because of the huge databases of
knowledge they’ve acquired over theyear s. That
data and experience may decrease in relevance
with time, butthe sharp economic correction
we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic
is unlikely to result ingreater competition in
the short term. In the long run, though, the
measures taken to restructure F1’s financial
model should pay off in terms of greater stability.
“Before, if youwere planning tostar t an
F1 team, it was a case of ‘how long is a piece
of string?’ How much money do we needto
do this?” says Steiner. “It could be anything,
because there was no limit to what you could
spend. With the budget cap, when you’re doing
your planning, you know the maximum you can
spend, and it’s just a case of whether you can
get there. That will give stability to the smaller
teams, and then the nextthing is that the new
FOM contracts will be more equal – not 100%
equal, but it will bring more [proportionally] of
the prize fund tothe li ttle teams.
“At the moment thegap betweenus and one of
the big teams is between $100m and $150m. In
future it might be $20m or $30m. Is that not a
good step? I would say yes.”
But what of the aspiration expressed by
many of F1’s senior figures that it can “come out
stronger”? Certainly it will only be treading water
for the coming months as teams send skeleton
crews to a handful of races held behind closed
doors. Perhaps there’s a wider lesson to be drawnfrom the rapid consensus achieved in agreeing
measures which have already saved several
teams from financial failure – and which should
make the ones stillstruggling, such as Williams
and McLaren, more attractive prospects for
new investment. For too many years F1 has
been beset by counter-productive infighting;
one positive of the COVID-19 pandemic isthat it has made mutual interests outweigh
vested self-interests.
“We need to stayon course, implement
properly what we’vedecided todo – and not
start giving concessionsto the big teams,” says
Steiner. “I think we’ve learned things we mustn’t
forget when the goodtimes return. That’s how
we’ll come out stronger.”RacingPointhasdelayedmovingintoits
newfactoryuntil2021buthasstillbeen
recruitingstaffduringthepanademicGUENTHERSTEINER
GP RACING JULY 2020 55
PICTURES
:GLENNDUNBAR
;CARLBINGHAM
;RACINGPOINT
“WE NEEDTO ST AY ON COURSE, IMPLEMENT PROPERLY WHAT WE’VE DECIDED
TO DO – AND NOTSTART GIVING CONCESSIONS TO THE BIG TEAMS. I THINK
WE’VE LEARNED THINGS WE MUSTN’T FORGET WHEN THE GOOD TIMES RETURN.
THAT’S HOW WE’LL COME OUTSTRO NGER”
because wedon’t spend that today. But it’s a lot
harder to come down in costs than it is to expand
into a cost capthat you’re not at. From that
perspectivewe’re going to be in a better position
than some of the bigger teams who are having
to shed costs. It’s easier to find a way to spend
than it is to find efficiencieswhen you’re used to
spending for performance.
“So we’ll be in good shape when the cost cap
comes in – we’ll still be under it. But we won’t
be able to spend up to it, unless of coursewe
find some sponsors, which Aston Martin may be
able to help with because its journey back into
the sportwill be a grea t one – we’re expectingto
perf orm at a pretty good level.”
Inequalities will persist: big teams will
still have an advantage, even ifthey have to
slim down, because of the huge databases of
knowledge they’ve acquired over theyear s. That
data and experience may decrease in relevance
with time, butthe sharp economic correction
we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic
is unlikely to result ingreater competition in
the short term. In the long run, though, the
measures taken to restructure F1’s financial
model should pay off in terms of greater stability.
“Before, if youwere planning tostar t an
F1 team, it was a case of ‘how long is a piece
of string?’ How much money do we needto
do this?” says Steiner. “It could be anything,
because there was no limit to what you could
spend. With the budget cap, when you’re doing
your planning, you know the maximum you can
spend, and it’s just a case of whether you can
get there. That will give stability to the smaller
teams, and then the nextthing is that the new
FOM contracts will be more equal – not 100%
equal, but it will bring more [proportionally] of
the prize fund tothe li ttle teams.
“At the moment thegap betweenus and one of
the big teams is between $100m and $150m. In
future it might be $20m or $30m. Is that not a
good step? I would say yes.”
But what of the aspiration expressed by
many of F1’s senior figures that it can “come out
stronger”? Certainly it will only be treading water
for the coming months as teams send skeleton
crews to a handful of races held behind closed
doors. Perhaps there’s a wider lesson to be drawnfrom the rapid consensus achieved in agreeing
measures which have already saved several
teams from financial failure – and which should
make the ones stillstruggling, such as Williams
and McLaren, more attractive prospects for
new investment. For too many years F1 has
been beset by counter-productive infighting;
one positive of the COVID-19 pandemic isthat it has made mutual interests outweigh
vested self-interests.
“We need to stayon course, implement
properly what we’vedecided todo – and not
start giving concessionsto the big teams,” says
Steiner. “I think we’ve learned things we mustn’t
forget when the goodtimes return. That’s how
we’ll come out stronger.”RacingPointhasdelayedmovingintoits
newfactoryuntil2021buthasstillbeen
recruitingstaffduringthepanademicGUENTHERSTEINER