FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Martin]

What measures would you introduce to reduce costs while keeping F1 at the pinacle of motor sport and keep it competitive?

one suggestion of mine. Remove remote telemetry. Allow teams to plug in during pit stops but not while car is on track, let the driver sort it out with radio support from team. Not sure how much this would save though - a few staff and some equipment. Might spice up racing though.

[Selcouth_Feline]

I'm not sure you can reduce costs. The big teams are given money by sponsors and it's up to the teams what they do with that money. You can rule on engine freezes, lack of telemetry etc, however the teams will still find something to do with their surplus cash - whether that's put it into R&D, testing, tyres...whatever. It's not likely that they'll turn around to their main sponsors and say, "Actually, we don't need that 1 million after all, please have it back!"

[texasmr2]

I'm not sure you can reduce costs. The big teams are given money by sponsors and it's up to the teams what they do with that money. You can rule on engine freezes, lack of telemetry etc, however the teams will still find something to do with their surplus cash - whether that's put it into R&D, testing, tyres...whatever. It's not likely that they'll turn around to their main sponsors and say, "Actually, we don't need that 1 million after all, please have it back!"

So true! One of the main reason's other than safety that turbo engine's were banned was because of the cost. Although we all know and have seen that with each year the car's get faster and faster and the developement cost keep rising. Only way I could see a cost reduction from year to year would be to 'freeze' any and all developement as they did with the 'engine freeze' and leave all the developement up to the tire manufacture's.

That scenario though would basically remove F1 from being the pennacle of motorsport's, it would be no better or different than CHAMPCAR !

[deMuRe]

I'm not sure you can reduce costs. The big teams are given money by sponsors and it's up to the teams what they do with that money. You can rule on engine freezes, lack of telemetry etc, however the teams will still find something to do with their surplus cash - whether that's put it into R&D, testing, tyres...whatever. It's not likely that they'll turn around to their main sponsors and say, "Actually, we don't need that 1 million after all, please have it back!"

Correct, that is why the idea of limiting team budgets also got thrown out the window. Teams will use creative accounting to get around this hurdle. One example was the Ferrari team being supplied free electricity from the local government, it wouldn't show up on the books however it would definitely be seen as a value add.

I've heard reports from Airforce Aerodynamics experts that say you could make F1 competative in an instant by doing away with all the wings and winglets, however that would be a reduction in advertising space for the cars and lets face it, these days they are mobile advertising boards...

[Martin]

I'm not sure you can reduce costs. The big teams are given money by sponsors and it's up to the teams what they do with that money. You can rule on engine freezes, lack of telemetry etc, however the teams will still find something to do with their surplus cash - whether that's put it into R&D, testing, tyres...whatever. It's not likely that they'll turn around to their main sponsors and say, "Actually, we don't need that 1 million after all, please have it back!"

I know its not easy, I'd just like to see less of a financial gap between the teams. McL & Ferrari can get sponsors easily, but there are other, potentialy good teams, who can't get big sponsorship so easily.
Of course, money is not the only ingredient for success - example Honda, but it is the main reason that ferrari & McL are where they are. Now that most other teams are funded by car manufacturers there will be a closing of the gaps anyway I suppose. (BMW)

[Martin]

I'm not sure you can reduce costs. The big teams are given money by sponsors and it's up to the teams what they do with that money. You can rule on engine freezes, lack of telemetry etc, however the teams will still find something to do with their surplus cash - whether that's put it into R&D, testing, tyres...whatever. It's not likely that they'll turn around to their main sponsors and say, "Actually, we don't need that 1 million after all, please have it back!"

So true! One of the main reason's other than safety that turbo engine's were banned was because of the cost. Although we all know and have seen that with each year the car's get faster and faster and the developement cost keep rising. Only way I could see a cost reduction from year to year would be to 'freeze' any and all developement as they did with the 'engine freeze' and leave all the developement up to the tire manufacture's.

That scenario though would basically remove F1 from being the pennacle of motorsport's, it would be no better or different than CHAMPCAR !

The trouble with 'freezing' any development is that, if say, a manufacturer had an underperforming engine but was prevented from development, that engine would under perform for the whole freeze period. Therefore would this not reduce competition? Of course R&D is a very expensive part of F!, but F1 is about team racing, its about teams developing faster cars, its not just a drivers champ. So, the only way to reduce costs is to limit the gizmos that are allowed but not to limit development on major components - cos thats what F1 is about. Isn't it?

[headless]

i dont think cost reductions should even be tried because teams are going to spend spend spend either way.

[bud]

give each team a capped amount they can spend each season,They can spend it on R&D or big motorhomes, how ever they see fit to run a F1 team. Also i think the lower you finish in the constructors championship the higher the cap youre allocated for the next season.

[deMuRe]

give each team a capped amount they can spend each season,They can spend it on R&D or big motorhomes, how ever they see fit to run a F1 team. Also i think the lower you finish in the constructors championship the higher the cap youre allocated for the next season.

This model would be too hard to police...

[bud]

it works in other sports, a salary cap! but yes it would be hard to police, would need the FIA to be in control of all the teams cheque books!

[deMuRe]

All of a sudden we would see all sorts of kickbacks and benefits teams would receive from suppliers and associates.

Creative accountants would have a field day. I would say it's almost impossible to police.

[bud]

lucky for my idea there is no such thing as a creative accountant. mind numb fools!

[7UpJordan]

To cut costs, I'd reduce the price of the "surprisingly expensive" pennysweets.

[darwin dali]

Pool all the money each team brings in, divide it by 11 or 12 teams - that's the money they get and are allowed to use, with each penny accounted for and monitored by UBS or Credit Suisse bankers. Whoever has the most money left at the end of the season will get the weight of their 2 drivers in Swiss chocolate

[racechick]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Now that IS an incentive to be thrifty!!!!!