Top teams cool on Vowles cost-cap plan

James Vowles’ push to give lower-ranked teams more spending freedom under Formula 1’s cost cap is facing resistance from some of the sport’s biggest teams.

The Williams boss wants a mechanism linked to championship position or points, allowing teams further down the order greater scope to invest in infrastructure and close the gap.

Toto Wolff said he has "super sympathy" for Williams’ position, but made clear he is not convinced by a sliding-scale system.

"Personally, I don’t like the concept of adjustment based on some positions," said the Mercedes boss and co-owner.

"Do we really want another mechanism where you’re being allowed to have more CapEx, OpEx based on your championship position?"

"I’m not sure."

Wolff argued that Formula 1 already has catch-up mechanisms through aerodynamic testing restrictions and power unit development allowances.

He also pointed to McLaren as evidence that a struggling team can recover without extra financial assistance.

"McLaren is a very good example," said the Austrian.

"A team that wasn’t owned by a big mothership that had endless funding like some of us, but able to work yourself out of a situation that wasn’t good."

Indeed, Zak Brown was similarly cautious about Vowles’ proposal.

"I think the biggest difference in racing teams are the people, the culture," said the McLaren CEO.

"We’ve got a customer engine, all these things which you hear over the years you can’t win a championship with, and we have."

Brown said he remains open to discussion but stressed that the grid is already highly competitive.

"Always open-minded," said the Californian. "But I think if you look last year, it was the closest grid in the history of Formula 1."

Even Red Bull-owned Racing Bulls, which could theoretically benefit from the proposal, is not enthusiastic.

Alan Permane said: "I don’t think we would support a wholesale change to the cost cap rules to start being able to spend huge amounts more money."

"I think it’s served Formula 1 very, very well. Maybe there are tweaks to do, for sure."

The proposal is expected to be discussed at the next F1 Commission meeting, where Vowles will need sufficient team support for any change to move forward.