Formula 1 | Carey responds to Marchionne: “Our strategy? Spend better and not more”

Present in Sao Paulo for the penultimate round of this 2017 Formula One World Championship, Chase Carey spoke about the last Strategy Group meeting in Geneva.

Topic of the day? Obviously cost cutting and the introduction of a "budget cap" that aims to level out the values ​​at stake. According to some British media reports, the objective of the US management was not fully achieved given that there were different schools of thought within the Strategy Group itself.

On the one hand the top teams, Mercedes and Ferrari above all, who would like to continue with the current strategy which leaves a lot of freedom on expenses (which have become crazy with the arrival of the hybrid era. ed.). On the other hand, however, the mid-ranking teams, led by Force India, who would like the introduction of a salary cap to "dismantle" the wall that has been created within the lineup itself.

According to Chase Carey, in fact, the first meeting was very positive and we will try to reach a compromise over the next few weeks. The US company aims to optimize budgets within the deployment, perhaps with a ceiling set at 150/200 million euros. Spend less and better, trying to optimize daily work in the factory.

A very ambitious goal which, however, will have to be approved by the top teams, who are obviously opposed to a solution of this type.

“I cannot divulge confidential information, but some quite interesting concepts emerged at the last meeting in Geneva”, declared the President of the FOM. “There is no common agreement, but I am optimistic and hope that a meeting point can be found in the coming weeks. Our goal is not to cut costs, but to optimize budgets within the deployment. Have the ability to spend judiciously to get to the top. Today this is not the case, given that to be with the top teams you have to pay exorbitant amounts of money."

“A salary cap would allow teams greater economic solidity and would showcase the real values ​​in the lineup,” continued the US Manager, also touching on the topic of budgets. “It would be good for Formula 1 because there would be greater balance on the track and it would allow other teams to make their entry. We will work in this direction, trying to make this business more useful for everyone."