Formula 1 bosses and the teams agreed at a meeting on Monday to consider changes to next season's budget cap, with a two-tier cap system being debated.
From the original level of $175m, less exclusions, all parties had already agreed to cut the threshold to $150m to help teams deal with F1's economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus crisis.
But during yesterday's online meeting, which included F1's Chase Carey and Ross Brawn, and FIA president Jean Todt, F1's midfield outfits lobbied for a further reduction of the future spending limit to $125m.
The request came shortly after McLaren boss Zak Brown warned of the potentially devastating consequences of the coronavirus crisis on the well-being of the sport's weakest teams.
However, according to a report from the BBC, Ferrari and Red Bull are at odds with the proposal, with the Scuderia arguing that additional expenses are incurred by the bigger teams which cover the R&D costs of parts that are sold to smaller outfits, like the model that sees Haas buy all its components from Ferrari with the exception of its design's monocoque and aero parts.
Red Bull also supplies parts to Scuderia AlphaTauri, while Racing Point acquires its car's entire drive train from Mercedes.
It is believed therefore that a variable budget cap threshold could be applied, with a $150m limit granted to the bigger teams to help them cover the costs of supplying their parts and components, and a lower $125 ceiling awarded to the smaller teams.
Team bosses have agreed to debate the issue when they reconvene in a few days.
As a reminder, in order to help mitigate the financial impact of the current crisis on the smaller teams, F1 agreed to delay the introduction of next year's new regulations until 2022.
However, Red Bull recently tabled the idea of delaying the regulation overhaul to 2023, but that proposition was rejected at Monday's meeting by president Todt, although the teams agreed to revisit the idea later this year.
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