Abiteboul sees cost cap offering silver lining to smaller teams

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Renault's Cyril Abiteboul believes the future heavy process of reducing costs for F1's top teams and the distractions it will generate could directly benefit the sport's smaller outfits.

The imposition of a budget cap in Formula 1 will necessarily lead to big redundancies among the top teams which will need to downsize the most to meet the future budget cap threshold.

Renault currently trails Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of resources and will continue to run its team at a deficit relative to its front-running rivals for the next couple of years as boosting its budget would make no sense when a reduction is on the 2021 horizon.

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"We know we have a huge deficit in resources against the teams that ultimately we want to fight against," said Abiteboul.

"But we also know that things like the budget cap at some point will kick in.

"It makes no sense to stack up resources knowing that we will have to reduce and go down. In a certain respect it will be most unprofessional to do that, to hire people that we may have to lose in the future.

"We are exactly at the tipping point of where F1 expects manufacturer teams to be, so we need to accept to stand still. So I would say that our disadvantage will be the resources that we have in the next two years."

For Abiteboul, the big teams' restructuring will prove a major distraction, a drawback the smaller outfits - like Renault - can hopefully capitalize on.

"Our advantage is that we will not have the distraction of having to think about the future," added the Frenchman.

"We can focus on going racing, and not having to think about a redundancy plan that will be a major distraction, let's face it, for the management of teams that are much larger than us.

"There are pros and cons, I am not moaning, we have a plan and we will execute it."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.