17/06/2020
NEWS STORY
As the world ponders the inevitable financial meltdown that is almost certain to follow the pandemic, few want to even think about events in Shanghai right now.
As the full impact of the virus and its after effects are felt, few businesses are likely to escape unscathed.
Already facing a difficult future, what with the ongoing shift to electric, car manufacturers have been particularly hit, and with this in mind F1 MD, Ross Brawn is glad the budget cap is being introduced to the sport next year, for without it he fears a number of manufacturers could have been lost to the sport.
"This crisis gave us the opportunity that we knew the budget cap always would," said Brawn at the FIA eSport Conference. "Once you set a budget cap, you can always adjust it.
"Before this ever happened, we said that if we ever have a crisis in the future, we can adjust the budget cap to take account, and all accept that the ideal level changes.
"I think without the ability for these teams to go back to their boards and manufacturers and say: 'Look, Formula 1 is vital, and it's going to cost less in the future', I don't think we would have retained the number of manufacturers or big teams that we have," he said. "When a manufacturer is making the economic adjustments it has to, if Formula 1 is still out there with unlimited spending, that's a difficult argument," he admitted.
"I think, touch wood, we've kept all the main players involved, and that's because we've been able to say that we're sustainable from an economic perspective."
While Renault and Mercedes both insist they are continuing, doubt remains, as it does in terms of the futures of teams like Williams and Haas.
With this in mind, Brawn believes the decision to continue with the current cars in 2021, ahead of the 'new look' overhaul in 2022, will help.
Referring to the raft of regulations being introduced in 2022 which will see more aggressive looking cars on a (hopefully) more level playing field, Brawn said: "(They) are more focused on what we feel are the areas the fans engage with, instead of spending a lot of money on things the fans know nothing about.
"I think they're going to be better-looking cars. They're certainly going to be able to race each other more effectively.
"There are a lot of things we were doing, and we've got our sustainability initiative which we've started in the last few years which are very important for engaging companies as well.
"They want to see a good sustainability strategy in F1. And we want to do all of that without spoiling the core attraction or the excitement of F1."