Haas team boss Guenther Steiner believes Mercedes and Ferrari are slowly accepting a budget cap is good for the future of Formula 1.
Having both spent in access of 400m Euros last year, the two manufacturers are unwilling to give up their financial advantage over the rest, which is resulting in domination on the track.
That is why they have tried vigorously to water down attempts by Liberty Media to introduce a spending limit that could be as low as $135m, a figure that would likely be imposed in 2023 based on recent reports.
“I think for Formula 1, let’s speak about that in general, [I’d like to see] a level playing field and for Haas, exactly the same thing,” Steiner said to GPFans.com last week in Spain
“With a level playing field financially, if everyone can play with the same means, the same resources or a similar amount of money, it makes it more competitive with closer racing.
“That is what the fans want to see in my opinion, and I think [Ferrari’s] Mattia [Binotto] and [Mercedes’] Toto [Wolff] are on the same page.
“They are getting there [because] after a while, just dominating, you know that you are just destroying something.”
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The Haas chief also believes only “small details” are standing between F1 and an agreement though does still expect, even under tighter financial regulation, the manufacturers would remain ahead.
“I think the big teams will still have an advantage anyway because their infrastructures are so much more developed, but their advantage will be smaller,” he explained.
“[But] what would be better than having an underdog winning a race? Like when Brawn won the championship, I think that was fantastic for the sport. I would like to see that, and I think the fans want to see that.”
While Steiner painted a grand picture of a highly competitive F1, driver Kevin Magnussen did rather acknowledge Haas also knew spending limits would help them move forward.
“It’s so uncertain what’s going to happen with these 2021 rules,” the Dane said initially.
“We all hope here at Haas, in our position, we want everything to be more levelled out because we feel like we are getting good performance per dollar.
“We spend every dollar better than a lot of teams and for that reason, we want to see a budget cap because we feel like we would do well with a budget cap and we wouldn’t have to spend any less probably.”
