The F1 Commission will meet on Friday to discuss growing demands from certain teams for the budget cap to be increased.
While not all teams are agreement - several of them unable to get anywhere the current spending limit - the need for updates in order to battle for the titles, the need to overcome the porpoising phenomenon and the global financial crisis, have led to the majority asking to be allowed to spend more.
"Seeing as the commission is only scheduled for two hours, we have to get aligned very quickly," joke Williams boss Jost Capito at Silverstone last weekend.
"I think we're discussing the various options," he added, referring to the need to discuss the budget cap and the FIA's recent technical directive. "But I'm sure we will find a compromise that works for all of us. I'm pretty confident we'll find a solution."
"It will be interesting to see what the FIA presents," smiled Christian Horner, who has previously predicted some teams might have to 'sit out' the final races of the season. "They promised obviously to come back to us with a proposal, so we'll listen with interest to see what's put on the table."
"We voted, I think once at the last Formula 1 Commission meeting, but that was a totally different proposal," added Otmar Szafnauer, whose Alpine team, along with Alfa Romeo, is against any increase. "So if it's something reasonable, we'll assess it and vote accordingly."
With an eye on Horner's comments about teams 'missing' races, when asked if F1 is in danger of pricing itself out of its own rules, Andreas Seidl replied: "First of all, in terms of completing the season, I'm pretty sure that every single team will be at each race until the end of the season. We will have contracts in place not just with Formula 1 but also with our partners and sponsors.
"But, as widely communicated or spoken about, also on our side as McLaren, we face an issue this year with these unexpected big increase of costs, especially on the freight side, and utility bills, and that's why we are still having discussions between the teams and also with the FIA of finding a solution for this year.
"Hopefully find a solution in the best interests of the sport and close the topic," he said of Friday's meeting. "Next year, as you all know, there is the next step coming in terms of the reduction of the cost cap, which we all agreed on in the past, which is also the right thing to do. But at the same time, it's still important that we keep having this discussion about introducing the inflationary increase of the cost cap limit, whatever it is, introducing it already in 2023, instead of the original implementation, which was for 2024. That's a discussion we are still having. But I'm quite positive that we will find solutions."
Previously, Seidl has warned that the cap could cause McLaren to cease producing upgrades, even though other teams are still managing to do so.
"Obviously I can only judge what I see on the McLaren side," said the German. "And in the end, each team has to make its own plans of how it wants to deploy upgrades throughout the season.
"We have a clear idea of, let's say, how the second half the season will look like, in terms of the development of the car as well. As you will know, there are some parameters you have to manage throughout the season. One thing is obviously the cost cap, with the known, let's say challenges, we are all in at the moment, with how the world is going. At the same time, you need to also manage how to use your wind tunnel time that is quite limited. And at the same time, I think we still have a car at the moment, or a package, which we upgraded quite a bit at the Barcelona race weekend, where we can still be quite competitive and fight for this P4. So, that's the bigger picture. And obviously we need to see now how we then move forward throughout the rest of the season as a team."
"The cost cap is a challenge for everybody," added Mercedes Mike Elliott, "and we'll have to sort of look at what we can afford to do for the rest of the season.
"We'll keep developing," he insisted. "In a normal year, your focus is on how to get the best out of this year, and what we need to put into next year. And at the moment I think you've just got to get on top of the understanding, because you need to know what you're going to do for next year as well. So we'll definitely be bringing experiments forward, making sure that we're on the right route for next year's car. Whether they turn into a big upgrade will be dependent on what we find and what we can afford."
Hard to believe but a definitive penalty for exceeding the cap has not been stipulated, as a result some teams are understood to be considering going over the limit and facing the consequences at a later date, hoping that if enough teams do it the FIA might be compromised.
"I can't speak for the other teams," said Seidl. "It's definitely not something we want to do. I think it would also be not good for the sport. And that's why I think the best is we agree on a compromise, and on a defined solution.
"We are very supportive of the fact that it is not clear what the penalty is, in general, when it comes to cost cap, because as always, when you know what the penalties are for certain infringements, you play with that. So I don't have any issue with that."
Despite the various issues, Seidl insists that he remains supportive of the cap.
"Of course, you can now pick the negatives from the overall very positive concept of the cost cap that we have put in place. And, again, for us at McLaren it's well known that we were heavily supportive of the introduction of the cost cap.
"I think it's great not just for us, it's great overall, for the sport, it puts a lot of teams now in a place that you can take part in F1 in a sustainable way on the financial side, and be competitive at the same time on the on the sporting side."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Spielberg here.
sign in