"They have the money for this, while other teams don't" - Red Bull wants to 'get away from the rest and continue to develop' in face of cost-caps, says 1996 F1 champion

Damon Hill feels Red Bull is demanding an increase in budget caps to seek more money to develop their car this year. The 1996 world champion feels Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s recent complaints about budget caps and inflation might be a ploy to seek more room to finance their current car.

Commenting on the budget cap issue, Hill spoke to Sky Sports saying:

“It’s one of the quirks of the sport with the current format. There is a limit on how much you can spend to win. It’s a good thing in a way and it allows other teams, who have a little less money, to keep up with the others. These are a bit more limited. So it could be that the people at the front of the field are complaining more now, because they want to get away from the rest and continue developing. They have the money for this, while other teams don’t.”

Over the Spanish GP weekend, Christian Horner complained about inflation costs affecting team finances and claimed many teams could skip races if the budget caps were not revised. Hence, the Red Bull team principal felt the budget caps needed a slight increase to accommodate inflation. According to Hill, seeking an increase in expenditure might be a ploy by the bigger teams to seek room for more expenditure on their current cars and break away from the rest of the pack.

---

Damon Hill feels smaller teams could complain if increased budget cap benefits bigger players like Red Bull and Ferrari

The former F1 champion feels Christian Horner might be complaining about budget caps to give teams like Red Bull and Ferrari an advantage. If bigger teams were to benefit from an increased budget cap, the former Williams driver believes the smaller teams could start to protest.

Doubting Horner’s intentions and complaints, Damon Hill said:

“It’s an area that can get quite tricky, because it’s a matter of looking at which budget is spent under which department. The FIA has to monitor all these amounts and make sure there is no cheating in the form of where the payments and the charges come from. It’s very hard to work that out. He may want to move the goalposts to give himself, the Red Bull team, and perhaps Ferrari the advantage. However, if that happens, the other teams will no doubt start complaining.”

An increase in logistical costs and inflation in the UK and European economies has made it difficult for teams to operate within the budget caps. While Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren are in favor of increasing expenditure or reviewing the cost caps, teams like Alpine and Alfa Romeo are against it.