Apologies if this has already been covered - could see it if it has (loving the new look BTW!)
A small article by Ed Gorman today injects a ray of hope into the "budget cap" disaster - I think it's a decent idea in the light of all the other stupidity.
A small article by Ed Gorman today injects a ray of hope into the "budget cap" disaster - I think it's a decent idea in the light of all the other stupidity.
Norbert Haug, the little-known vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, is on the verge of being hailed as the man who made the breakthrough in the Formula One crisis over the FIA's determination to introduce a budget cap on team expenditure.
Like the United Nations, Acas and Henry Kissinger rolled into one, Haug and his colleagues in Stuttgart have come up with a compromise proposal that appears to be flexible and subtle enough to satisfy the teams and Max Mosley, the president of the FIA.
Mosley wanted to bring in his cap next season and set it at £40 million, which led to several teams, among them Ferrari, threatening not to enter the championship in 2010. Haug's plan - the “Mercedes initiative” - allows the teams to spend no more than £100 million next season, in return for which they will offer help to new teams, in terms of cheap components and shared expertise. In addition, the teams will commit to Formula One until the end of 2012 and will agree to operate under a £40 million cap from 2011.
Mosley has written to the teams indicating that he views Haug's plan as a positive step forward because, although the budget cap will be much higher than he envisaged next season, the Mercedes plan offers what one source close to him called “clarity and certainty” over the future of the sport and a much tighter budgetary environment from 2011.