F1 needs to address inequality of wealth in paddock

If one takes a look at the World Constructors’ Championship table of the Formula One, it is easily visible that it is divided into two parts, the top teams and the bottom ones.

The teams in the top 4 consists the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes, all of which are strong contenders for the trophy.

Then as we go downwards, we see a large gap between the teams placed in fourth and fifth place. Lotus leads McLaren-Mercedes by a stunning 122 points on the Constructors’ Championship table, already. So why does such a big gap exist? Is it because of lack of quality drivers, engines or funds to the teams in the bottom tier?

There is no lack of quality drivers in bottom tier of the Formula One teams, which consist the likes of Adrian Sutil, Paul Di Resta, Jenson Button and so on. There is no question on the capabilities of these drivers as they’ve shown incredible performances in some of the races of their careers.

Jenson Button, who currently drives for McLaren-Mercedes, won the World Championship in the year 2009 where he managed six wins and a total of nine podium finishes. His teammate Sergio Perez, who joined him this season, hasn’t taken much time to adapt to the new team and has had a good season so far.

The engines used by Force-India Mercedes and McLaren Mercedes are same ones used by Mercedes Petronas team, which currently stands third in the Constructors’ Championship table. This stat clearly shows that there is no injustice being done amongst the teams as far as the engines go.

FIA, the Formula One governing body, also has strict regulations on the engine and vehicle chassis specification, which are same for every team competing in the Formula One championship.

Their investors and sponsors mostly fund the Formula One teams but this amount isn’t as large as the amount earned by winning the prize money in the competition. As announced by Bernie Ecclestone earlier this year, only the top 10 teams will receive the prize money. This means that the bottom placed teams will have to compete on a tight budget which may affect their performance.

The small teams in Formula One are looking for investors who are ready to incur losses for a few years as their teams climb up the F1 ladder before they can start generating profits. Although, this takes a lot of patience on the part of the investors, this investment would still remain uncertain of good returns.

The Formula One governing body, FIA, already has a large number of regulations and restrictions on the number of equipments, like engines or tyres, to be used throughout the season. To make this an even contest, FIA needs to start putting some financial regulations on the teams as well.

For example, the drivers’ salaries can be capped, which will result that each driver earns more or less the same amount and the only chance to earn more is by winning. This will bring a large amount of competitiveness among the drivers, more than there is right now, and make the races even more exciting.

Although, FIA, did try to put a financial cap on teams, but this decision faced serious opposition from various top-level teams in the competition. So such financial regulations coming into picture is still a long shot but will make the contest much more even and will surely bridge the gap which separates the teams as top and bottom ones.