Former Red Bull F1 chief designer Adrian Newey has raised concerns on consequences that could occur regarding the cost cap.
In May 2024, Newey was confirmed to be leaving Red Bull Racing, closing an 18-year-long chapter. Months full of speculation later, the star designer was presented by Aston Martin F1. He joins the team on 1 March 2025.
F1 regulations are “so prescribed” nowadays
In a fascinating interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Newey was asked by Michael Schmidt which rules he pleased the most in his long and successful career in Formula 1.
“The ones with the most freedom,” Newey responded. “That’s easy. So when I first got into Formula 1, I have on my desk at work a copy of the, I think it’s the 1973 technical regulations for Formula 1. It’s about three or four pages.
”Now we have this bible, and that’s before you put all the technical directives in. It’s so prescribed now.”
For reference, the rulebook for the 2025 technical regulations has a total of 178 pages.
F1 “no longer the best paid industry” due to cost cap
The cost cap stays regulated at $135 million for 2025. That amount is set to increase to $215 million in 2026, as Audi joins as an engine supplier and Cadillac as an eleventh team.
Newey agrees with the cost cap on certain points. However, “hidden penalties” make F1 no longer the highest-paying industry.
”It’s a shame, you know, the cost cap, there needs to be a way of controlling the cost, or certainly the benefit from spending more in Formula 1 to make it simply an arms race where the team with the biggest budget wins. That I fully agree with.
”The cost cap, though, does come with a lot of hidden penalties, one of which is that it actually means Formula 1 is no longer the best paid industry.”
Newey speaks of “unexpected penalties”
”So for instance, at Red Bull, we start, if we lost people, it would almost be invariably to another Formula 1 team,” Newey continued. “Now we’re losing people to tech companies, because they pay better. We’re losing people to WEC teams, because they pay better.
”We’re struggling to get graduates, because Formula 1 can’t afford to be the best paying industry anymore. So it has a lot of, let’s say, unexpected penalties to it. But what it does mean is that you’ve effectively now got an engineering budget.
“Therefore, the fear that spending more will mean you’ll disappear is theoretically disappeared, at which point surely you free up the regulations rather than make them ever more restrictive.
“But unfortunately, it’s not what’s happening,” he concluded.