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F1 spending levels can't continue, warns Tost

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has warned the current level of spending in F1 can't continue, and claims a cost cap wouldn't work are "nonsense".

HRT, Caterham and Marussia have all gone into administration over the past five years in F1, with the latter returning as Manor at the start of 2015. Sauber, Lotus - now Renault - and Force India have all had financial concerns in that time, and Tost says the biggest teams will soon feel costs are unsustainable.

"We need to reduce the costs," Tost said in an interview with Tiroler Tageszeitung. "It shouldn't be that a team spends €450 million a year. On the other hand, we bargain for a few cents when it comes to road cars. Even the manufacturers cannot accept sums like this forever. It's not feasible. We spent way too much money on F1."

And Tost says a cost cap is the best way to bring about immediate change, insisting it would be easy for governing body the FIA to police such a limit.

"Give each team, for example, €150 million with the FIA watching over it. The big teams will cry foul that there is no way to control costs but this is nonsense. Over at Toro Rosso, I know how much each screw costs.

"Many claim you cannot control development - nonsense as well. If somebody didn't want to present their expenditures, it could be pretty easy, then the FIA could charge this team twice the average price of the part in question. And then you'll see how fast all invoices would be filed with the FIA."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.