Carey optimistic over budget cap introduction

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Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey is optimistic that there is broad agreement within the sport in favour of the phasing in of a budget cap for teams.

The topic was one of a number of items on the agenda of the Strategy Group meeting held earlier this week.

"I think we have broad-based support for the direction of all the initiatives we're talking about," Carey said in Brazil.

"It will create a business model that would first and foremost be beneficial to the existing teams in it," he continued. "I think as a healthier business model it would also entice new teams."

Carey said that it was important for the sport to bring in cost controls. He said it would ensure that teams couldn't spend their way to the top.

"When today people on the outside look in, in some ways they look at the challenges of the sport - what the top teams are spending - and that's a deterrent."

He explained that without budget caps, "the competitive spirit overtakes, and you just spend what it takes to win."

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"[It] ends up with realistically with about six cars competing at one level and the rest of the cars competing at another because of the spending differences and the engine differences and the like.

"[We have to] create a structure that makes it about how well you spend your money, not how much you spend," he added.

"I think that will create a better model for fans. A better model for existing partners. And a much more interesting proposition for potential new entrants.

"If we can make it a better sport for fans and a better business for everybody in it, it will benefit us all."

But while Carey was able to claim broad support in principle, he conceded that there was a long way to go when it came to hammering out a consensus on the details.

"We obviously have to get into the specifics, and in the details there will be differing views," he admitted.

"Directionally there's broad agreement about the direction we're talking about," he added. "[But] I don't want to get too far into negotiating in public."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.