Mercedes ‘spent a third’ of cost cap boost with double F1 crash

During a meeting of the F1 Commission on Friday morning at the Red Bull Ring, it was decided that the $140m budget cap would be increased by 3.1% (around $4.3m) to help teams combat the global inflation crisis that has resulted in rising energy and freight bills. 

Speaking about the cost cap boost on Saturday morning in Austria, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed his side have already burned through a significant chunk of the adjustment within hours due to Hamilton and Russell’s qualifying crashes. 

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“We are still, the three of us [Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari], very much above it,” Wolff admitted. “That means saving costs will be necessary - at least for Mercedes. 

“So the outcome is helpful. Does it solve our problems? No.”

Wolff later quipped: “We spent a third of the additional gain we got yesterday in one, right after it!” 

Hamilton lost control of his Mercedes at Turn 7 and suffered a hefty impact with the barriers on his first flying lap of Q3, before Russell suffered his own crash when he spun off at the final corner. 

“Everyone is doing such a good job” pic.twitter.com/ttSoLKZPoD

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 9, 2022

Mercedes have been forced to switch Hamilton to a spare chassis he has already raced this year. The team have also made penalty-free gearbox changes on both cars as a precaution.

Wolff joked it “looked like somebody dropped a Lego car on the floor” of the Mercedes garage due to the amount of damage that had been sustained on both cars. 

“It’s very rare that you see both drivers crashing out,” said Wolff. “Especially in the circumstances they looked like synchro swimmers, so that was a good choreography. 

“In Austria, these corners are on a knife’s edge to carry a lot of speed. I would rather have a quick car and end up in the wall and have more learning. 

"Both cars are pretty injured. The floors, we’ve done precautionary checks for the gearboxes, the rear wing for George, plenty of parts - that has cost cap implications. 

“But the biggest is the mechanics working around the clock. We hope to have a good car for the sprint race to put us in a good position for tomorrow.” 

Asked whether Mercedes could take anything away from the nature of the two incidents, Wolff said: “I think the car is still tricky to drive. Now that we can actually fight for front positions, I am really happy to see that they are attacking. 

“Lewis, the corner before, was carrying 10kph more speed and made Turn 6, and then he’s carried 10kph more speed into [Turn] 7 and didn’t make the corner. The same a little bit for George, he was up a little bit on his delta time and that was a particular strength of his previous runs and it went too far. 

“Whether there was wind or any other conditions, I think the summary is the car is tricky to drive. But it’s faster now and for me that’s absolutely okay."