Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Williams' request for an exceptional increase of its Capex limit as set by F1's financial rules is justified, while the Austrian denounced the self-serving attitude of several teams that led to talks on the topic being shelved for now.
Williams tabled its demand at the last meeting of the F1 Commission following team boss James Vowles' comprehensive review of the team's outdated infrastructure.
In a nutshell, capital expenditures are long term investments by a team to acquire or maintain its factory equipment. Formula 1's financial regulations authorize Capex of $36 million spread across four years.
Long-term investments are a big part of Williams' turnaround plans as the team is in dire need of upgrading its facilities. Without adequate investment, it will be near impossible for the outfit to catch up with the sport's larger teams.
Vowles therefore requested a Capex extension, but several teams then saw an opportunity to boost their own investment threshold, while an option allowing the FIA to consider awarding more Capex leeway on a case-by-case basis was also discussed.
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In the end, no agreement was reached and Williams' request was placed on the back-burner indefinitely.
"It's unfortunate and it's disappointing, frankly, that we're in a situation where again, that meeting, I would argue, went round in circles if nothing else," commented Wolff, a former Williams shareholder while Mercedes also supplies its engines to the British team.
"And to a certain extent, it will do, because everyone in that room wants to make sure that they're not losing out relative to everyone else."
Wolff argued that Williams' request was not only reasonable but also deserved to be considered.
"Why the Capex discussion came up is that a team, Williams, said their infrastructure is sub-par and they wouldn't be able to catch up with trivial things like machine equipment, and up to the technical things like simulators.," he said.
"That was the starting point of all discussions. Then, as a consequence, some teams jumped on that bandwagon to say, but actually, we would like to have a little bit more capex.
"And that number went up from $50 million to $60 million, $70 million, $90 million, and suddenly, it was like free reign and why don't we change the Capex levels?
"But there is no reason to do that. I think there is one team we need to treat differently than all the others."
Wolff says the option to consider more Capex freedom on a case-by-case basis was only of interest to other teams if they could also benefit from a relaxing of the the investment limit.
"We came up with a list. Some of the big teams said we don't want a list, and if Williams get stuff, we want to have stuff. And that was simply shut down," added the Mercedes boss.
"We need stability of regulations, on financial relations. And you need to be able to have a business plan that is valid and not a free rein every two years where we change the goalposts on capex.
"So that's why this was the end of the capex discussion, but maybe we will find a solution for Williams."
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