Mercedes proposed an F1 cost cap allowance to pay junior staff more
At a time when Williams’ James Vowles is putting the Formula 1 cost cap under major scrutiny, Toto Wolff lifted the lid on a Mercedes proposal that it pitched to the sport’s governing body.
Rather than being related directly to on-track performance, Wolff claims Mercedes wanted the FIA to grant more allowance to pay junior staff better, suggesting that the cost cap suppresses their salaries. The Austrian said this proposal “didn’t score a lot of brownie points”.
Mercedes proposed junior staff salary allowance
Vowles has looked to lead a charge of change on the Formula 1 cost cap, introduced in 2021 with the aim of evening out spending across the teams, thus creating a more level playing field.
The Williams team principal feels it is unintentionally doing the opposite. He has highlighted perceived restraints on capital expenditure as part of his argument.
At the Brazilian Grand Prix, it was put to Wolff by Sky F1 that Vowles had also suggested that the cost cap was pushing teams to run parts too close to their limit, thus triggering a recent flurry of engine penalties.
“I mean, we know why the cost cap happened, but we are so on the edge of things that it would be better to have more,” Wolff responded.
“In our case, we are not able to carry old chassis over to next year. Some need to be chopped up, which is quite sad when you look at the record of these cars.
“So every team is under pressure. It’s the same. I would have loved to have a little bit of an uplift.”
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Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey recently weighed in on the debate regarding whether the cost cap has created a two-tier Formula 1.
He said: “If you look at things like wind tunnel testing – and also the engines with the ADUO – then those are both examples where teams that are behind are granted more wind tunnel time or dyno time or whatever it might be than the teams that sit at the front.
“So, it’s easy from that point of view to then extrapolate that to, okay, if teams are behind, then also give them a small extra allowance on the budget.”
Mercedes already had a vision of its own on how it would like the cap to be tweaked. It focused on a different area to where the conversation is currently at, and according to Wolff, did not do well in the “brownie points” column.
“The idea that we had was for more junior personnel that joined the team, that we would have more allowance to pay them better and not being the salaries suppressed in the first 5, 6, 7 years,” Wolff revealed.
“So we’ve pitched that to the FIA to give us an allowance, not for more front wing, but an allowance for salaries to come up a little bit because the cost cap suppresses all of that.
“But obviously, that didn’t score a lot of brownie points [smiles].”
Mercedes has secured the Drivers’ and Constructors’ title double in F1 2026, its first taste of championship glory since 2021.
