Postby tifosi77 » Fri Nov 17, 2023 1:07 pm
Racing in Hungary and Qatar is definitely more pure racing sport. 100%, no question. Mmhmm.
Teams have $150 million dollar budgets because [Manufacturer A] wants to be better than [Manufacturer B-D inclusive] and put that in a commercial. But to do that, the engineering has to be exceptional. And that's not cheap.
So budgets are driven by manufacturer backing, and always have been. The 2008 season (the last year completed before the impacts of the global financial crisis drew in) saw teams spend a combined $3 billion chasing world championship points; the top teams all spent over $350 million, each (and most of them were more like $400 mil+).
That's not just a marketing exercise.
Cost caps are stupid - works teams like Mercedes and Ferrari can hide so much of their F1 budgets in their parent company. Red Bull didn't think catering was a team expense, so they got stitched.