Brown calls for more 'technical freedom' within F1 budget cap

McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown believes teams should be allowed more technical freedom as part of Formula 1's budget cap regime.

The sport's long-awaited cost cap was introduced in 2021 with the aim of restraining costs and levelling the playing field.

Teams functioned last year according to a $145 million budget that covered the design, development and running costs for the season, with a series of items such as engines and driver salaries excluded from the cost cap.

The mandatory threshold was initially limited to $140 million this year, but it was tweaked mid-season due to global inflation pressures.

Next year’s cost limit will drop to $135 million, but that number will rise to $138.6 million as 24 races are planned.

Brown reasons that F1's cost-cap system that is now well established should lead to more permissive technical regulations.

"If you've got a cost cap, then there should actually be some more technical freedom within the cost cap," Brown argues.

"You would then see more innovations and risk taking and the cars would look even more different.

"If you have the cap, then you've kind of got two [guidelines] as 'Everything has to look exactly like that' and 'You can't spend more than that'.

"Just stop with the spend and do [what] you want. I think you would bring out more innovation, and everyone would learn from each other.

"It was like when Brawn did the double diffuser [in 2009], they got a great head start.

"But by the end of the year, it was balanced out, so I think you could get that. That's the fascinating part of the sport."

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Red Bull's recent cost-cap saga proved that managing a Formula 1 team's budget can be a challenging balancing act.

McLaren remained within F1's financial boundaries in 2021, but Brown acknowledged that it had been a "nerve-racking" process for the Woking-based outfit.

"It's nerve-racking because you want to get as close to the cap as possible," explained the American.

"If you have an accident or something or something goes wrong [then you could be over], but we did the dry run [in 2020].

"Our CFO had many clarifications and opportunities to ask questions and we did a lot. Federico [Lodi, head of financial regulations at F1] and the FIA did an excellent job.

"There was clarity and it was kind of when in doubt, ask the question."

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