Big blow for Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari as F1 cost cap loophole closed by the FIA

FIA has clamped down on the F1 teams with a revision of the cost cap regulations aimed at closing off a potential loophole. The governing body has now altered the rules that allowed teams to use staff outside the spending limits to gain a performance advantage.

Most of the bigger F1 teams run specialized technical divisions, which operate as separate entities from the team, offering various services and products to the outside world. These divisions make use of the knowledge gained on the track to offer solutions to real-world problems.

Teams such as Red Bull runs the Advanced Technology division, McLaren has its Applied Technologies, Mercedes has the Applied Science division and Aston Martin runs the Performance Technologies. These projects are run by senior technical staff, with years of experience in F1.

Since the introduction of the cost cap regulations, teams were suspected of using these divisions to help the racing teams gain an advantage. They were exploiting this loophole to gain valuable information back from these special divisions free of cost.

FIA introduced a technical directive earlier this year. It has now been revised to stop any transfer of Intellectual Property from these entities, which lie outside the cost cap regulations, back to the teams. The rule is known as TD45 and still allows teams to run these divisions but any information gained back must be accounted for in the cost cap regulations.

According to motorsport.com, the implementation of this rule has already affected a few teams. A leading F1 source was quoted saying:

"It’s had an impact, Some have been forced to act because they realised what they were doing is no longer allowed."

"But the difficult part is they will have been doing it since January 1 (when the TD declared a cut off point), so they will have had a spend up until this point that they now need to address and somehow claw back."

FIA has also been visiting teams to review their finances and has also put together a much more detailed questionnaire regarding the cost cap for the teams.

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F1 pundit bored of Max Verstappen's domination

F1 Grand Prix of Canada winner Max Verstappen

F1 pundit and former team owner Eddie Jordan is bored of seeing Max Verstappen dominating the sport. While he hailed the Red Bull driver to be on the path to greatness, he added that he is bored to death with the lack of competition.

"Let's not forget one thing here, Max Verstappen will emerge, over time, to be the greatest driver of all time, he is that good,"Jordan said on Formula For Success podcast.

"I don't like the last couple of races, I have to tell you I am bored to death. He is just that good, he is making it boring – more so than the Schumacher era," he added.

Verstappen has won six of the first eight races and has a 69-point lead over teammate Sergio Perez in the drivers' standings.