Ferrari has urged the FIA to step up its policing of Formula 1’s budget cap as Red Bull continues to bring upgrades to the RB18.
This season, teams were limited to $140m under the financial regulations although that figure was increased to just over $145m as a result of soaring inflation that has increased costs.
Even so, speaking after the cap increase that was agreed back in Austria, Red Bull boss Christian Horner argued the rise should have been more.
“Is it enough? Not compared to inflation, and what it is today,” he told Motorsport.com.
“It’s not enough for us, and it’s too much for the little teams. So it’s a compromise, and a consensus was found in the end.”
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Even so, the current championship leaders have continued developing their 2022 car and are now rumoured to be planning a new lightweight chassis potentially for Singapore to address its ongoing weight problem.
Leading other teams to wonder how Red Bull can go through that process and remain within the cap.
“That would be far too expensive,” Mercedes told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport. “Not just because of the crash tests. You have to build three new chassis, and they cost you two million extra.”
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto then went further, questioning if the FIA has sufficient personnel to ensure all teams abide by the budget cap.
“The number of people in the FIA monitoring it is very little,” he said via BBC Sport.
“It has to improve for the future because it would be really bad if somehow a championship was dictated by a financial regulation and not technical or sporting.
“I cannot know what they are doing, if they have a [lighter] chassis or not, but the budget cap is always a concern.
“The financial regulations can make differences between teams in the way they are interpreting and somehow executing it.
“And we know we need a very strong FIA to make sure they are properly focusing, otherwise the regulations will not be fair and equitable.
“Ferrari would never be capable of introducing a lightweight chassis or a different chassis through a season simply [because of the] budget cap, and I would be very surprised if a team is capable of doing it.
“If they are, it is back to the regulation itself – is it fair enough, is it equitable enough, is the policing sufficient?”
In response, an FIA spokesperson said: “The FIA is committed to robust monitoring processes and will continue to strengthen, develop and refine all areas of its activities in this new era of Formula 1.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull boss Horner insisted they would stay within the cap, claiming: “Yes, because we have had less upgrades than Ferrari and Mercedes.”