F1 | Spanish GP | Franz Tost explains why AlphaTauri voted against sporting penalties for cost cap infringements
Alpha Tauri's team principal Franz Tost explains why the team voted against cost cap rule change, as teams are expecting more clarity from the FIA.
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From 2022 onwards, the sport has adopted a new financial regulatory framework, which requires teams to work within the limit of a $145 million-budget per season.
In regard with those new financial regulations, F1 policing bodies are entitled to sanction teams for breaches via financial penalties, minor sporting penalties, material sporting penalties or enhanced monitoring.
However last week, discussions among teams’ heads about the introduction of sporting penalties for procedural breaches had seen three teams — AlphaTauri, Red Bull and Ferrari — voting against the motion.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto explained that the Scuderia wanted greater clarity before it could give its support to the change, but insisted he wasn’t against the idea of sporting penalties being for the breach of the financial regulation.
AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost mirrored Binotto's comments on Friday, stating the responsibility lied with the FIA to give clarification about the proposed changes.
"It's quite clear, this is a change during the season, and what we requested is simply a clarification, and we wait now until the FIA will come up with this."
"Then we will decide how to continue. I don't want to go into details here, because as you know, this is confidential content.”
"AlphaTauri, as you know, is absolutely not against the cost cap or against any amendments for the cost cap.”
"But it has to be done in a proper way, and we simply need to define in detail what the FIA wants with this. Therefore, we requested for this clarification."
Talks between the teams and the FIA over the proposed changes to the financial regulations are set to continue in the coming weeks.
Furthermore, the idea of the inclusion of a driver salary cap, — which at the moment isn’t included in the current financial regulations — is being considered by certain team principals.
Tost has already been vocal about that topic during the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020, stating that “drivers shouldn’t earn more than 10 million a year and should be happy to drive these cars”. The Austrian is still of the idea that drivers’ salary should be capped, asserting that a sum of "30 million for both drivers" would be a good landing point.
"This is in discussion, and it depends as always on how much financial resources the different teams have, and in which direction we will go" Tost added.
His suggestion was supported by Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer, who said it should be "in that region", but Haas chief Gunther Steiner felt "a lot more work" was required before a figure could be proposed.