Verstappen: Healthy F1 'completely wrong' to cap driver salaries

Max Verstappen says Formula 1 would be "completely wrong" to introduce a cap on driver salaries given the healthy financial state of the sport.

The topic of following up F1's budget cap with a ceiling on driver salaries has been on the table for several years, with a limit of $30 million for a team's two drivers often cited as a potential starting point.

But beyond the contractual complexities of introducing a retainer threshold due to drivers holding valid contacts with their teams with various durations, Verstappen argues that restraining driver salaries at a time when F1's is growing on a wave of prosperity doesn't make sense;

"It's still all a bit vague as well, right?," said the Red Bull charger when queried on the subject in Baku. "I think no one really knows where it's going to go.

"But from my side, it's completely wrong, because I think at the moment, F1 is becoming more and more popular, and everyone is making more and more money, including the teams and FOM. Everyone is benefiting.

"So why would the drivers with their IP rights and everything be capped, [the people] who actually bring the show and put their lives at risk? Because we do, eventually. So for me, it's completely wrong."

Verstappen also suggested that young talent in motorsport could be nipped in the bud by a salary cap as those who financially support junior drivers are faced with a limited return on their investment, an argument also upheld by Lewis Hamilton in the past.

"In all the junior categories, if you see how many of those drivers have a sponsor, or a backer, who eventually will have a certain percentage of their income in potentially F1 or whatever, I think it's going to limit that a lot, because they will never get their return on money," added the Dutchman.

"And if you get a cap it will hurt all the junior categories as well. And I don't think you would want that."

• Read also: F1 drivers not keen on 'very complicated' salary cap

Verstappen's manager, Raymond Vermeulen, has called the idea of capping drivers' salaries "total idiocy" as drivers increase the value of a team.

"They benefit from that," said Vermeulen. "It would then be very strange if you were to limit only the driver’s earnings model."

McLaren's Lando Norris agreed with Verstappen that capping salaries could significantly limit a backer's interest in carrying a young driver froward.

"I think what he said is correct," said Norris. "And especially with the investment part into into young drivers. It's difficult enough to get into F1 at all.

"So as soon as you have the backing, or you have an investor as a driver, they obviously want their money back at some point, and you're going have to do that.

"And if it gets capped, and so on, it's much harder or it will interest people much less to ever invest into young drivers and invest into people having chances to get to F1 in the first place. So I think that's one of the main points."

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