How Crashes in Formula 1 Affect Teams' Bottom Lines, Budget Caps

• Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, both McLaren drivers and both Red Bull drivers sustained varying degrees of damage to their cars at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

• Teams affected face not only hits to the $145 million budget cap, but also possible grid penalties for excessive number of engine changes.

• The damage sustained in Hungary promoted a couple of teams to suggest that the regulations concerning the budget cap need re-writing, with one team even making a proposal that a guilty party should pay for costs incurred by an opponent.

Formula 1 teams are counting the cost of the first half of the 2021 season, accentuated by the dramatic start to last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Several teams suffered crash damage to a car after two separate accidents in damp conditions at the Hungaroring. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, both McLaren drivers and both Red Bull drivers sustained varying degrees of damage to their cars.

At previous title leading team Red Bull there are fears over their Honda engines, bringing with it sporting and financial concerns, albeit with the caveat that engine-related costs are excluded from the cap.

Red Bull estimated $1.8 million worth of damage was sustained to Verstappen’s RB16B in his Silverstone crash, and while Honda was able to salvage engine components, he was moved onto his third and final permitted power unit in Hungary as a precaution. If a driver exceeds their allocation of engine components in a season then they face a 10-place grid penalty.

“It’s lost all its water immediately so we’ll have to look into more detail but the initial reports are it will no longer be in service,” said Horner of Perez’s power unit.

Horner added that Red Bull had “very little” chance of avoiding grid penalties, and labelled it “hugely frustrating for Honda, as it’s not due to reliability, it’s because of accidents that we haven’t caused.”

Ferrari, too, is likely to face a penalty, after Charles Leclerc’s power unit sustained irreparable damage when he was thumped at the start by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. The engine will not be able to be used again, despite the fact that it was firmly within its life cycle.

Ferrari released a terse statement in which it labelled it a “financial impact” and one with “racing ramifications” due to the expectation of copping a 10-place grid penalty between now and Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes previously outlined that Valtteri Bottas’ high-speed crash at Imola in April would influence its development program for 2021.