F1 Teams Look to US Leagues for Possible Driver Salary Cap Ideas

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• Even in F1's new era of a spending caps, the traditional biggest spenders—Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull—are still dominating as much as ever.

• One of the many items that teams don't have to include in their budget caps are driver salaries.

• Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff says that it might be time to reel in, or at least regulate in some way, driver salaries in Formula 1.

The two-year-old team spending caps in the sport continues to get mixed reviews in the Formula 1 paddock.

While the idea of a $140 million spending cap for each team sounds like at least a step in the right direction for closing some gaps on the grid, it's not exactly panning out just like that. The traditional biggest spenders—Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull—are still dominating as much as ever. In some ways even more so, as in 2020 (before the cap) McLaren and Racing Point (now Aston Martin) finished the season 3-4 in the standings, and this year they are well back in the standings. So much for the salary cap closing the gap between the big teams and the midfield.

Then there is the issue of inflation. Some teams have stated that they'd like F1 beancounters to consider raising the cap to allow for inflation. Some teams, and rightfully so, say they didn't count on world-wide inflation in 2022 being as big a concern or deep a cut when they built their budgets out last year. And there is also the issue of car damage in crashes. Some teams are saying that it doesn't take more than a crash or two to bust up not only a chassis, but to break the budget, as well.

One of the many items excluded from F1 budget caps are driver salaries. Those costs are kept close to the vest by the teams, but seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes has been reported to be working with a salary upwards of $40 million, while defending champion Max Verstappen is said to be raking in the neighborhood of $20 million this year.

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff says that it might be time to reel in, or at least regulate in some way, driver salaries in Formula 1. Wolff even went to far as to say that maybe F1 should take a look at some of the American sports leagues that have salary caps for its athletes.

"Certainly, it has come up as a controversial topic," Woff said during media availability on Saturday in Azerbaijan, ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix there. "We can see that we are facing a very difficult situation in Formula 1 overall.