"Start saving money now" - Haas has a simple advice for Red Bull over F1 budget cap concerns

Haas boss Guenther Steiner has some advice for Red Bull team principal Christian Horner over the latter's complaints about the budget cap proving to be too big a deterrent for multiple teams on the grid. Horner had earlier warned that many teams would have to miss multiple races unless the cost cap was increased.

Reacting to the recent comments made by the Briton, Steiner said:

“You need to start [saving money] because there are still six months to go. If you cannot save money for the last four races then start saving money now. That’s business.”

Reacting to suggestions from Horner that Red Bull would have to miss the last four races because of the current budget cap, Steiner said that the other nine teams would be very happy if that happened as it would mean a bigger slice of the pie for them. He said:

“If [Red Bull] don’t do the last four races, there are nine teams very happy about it because they won’t get any more [championship revenue] next year and we can divide it. So we are happy people and for sure Ferrari will be happy if they are not at the last four races. He (Horner) is saying you cannot make it but as a businessman, you need to make it at the end of the day. You guys (the media) need to make it. If you guys have a budget but you fly business [class] all year and then you say ‘boss, I can’t do the last four races because I’ve run out of money’, what would he say? ‘Should you not have flown economy at the beginning of the year?’ You need to manage.”

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Increasing budget cap means an extra update or two for Red Bull

Guenther Steiner also reflected on the possible consequences of an increase in the budget cap, which would defeat its purpose by allowing top teams to bring more updates to the car using that money. He said:

“Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari would bring one or two extra updates to the track, which would eventually cancel each other out, and the only result would be to widen the gap to the rest of the teams.”

The debate over the budget cap is only getting started and it remains to be seen which side the other top teams will take in this case.