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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Vowles says the cost cap is making F1 into a two-tier competition. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Vowles says the cost cap is making F1 into a two-tier competition. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
The Williams team principal used Friday\u2019s press conference at Sepang to argue the financial rules have delivered the stability F1 wanted but have failed to reduce the performance gap across the grid.<\/p>\n
Teams are operating under a $215 million limit on performance-related expenditure in 2026, five years after the cap was introduced.<\/p>\n
Vowles was careful to separate Williams\u2019 own problems from his wider criticism, accepting responsibility for mistakes that contributed to the team slipping backwards this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, I own the mistakes that we made this winter, and we need to detach that from that question. So we have gone backwards. We had a car that was overweight,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
But he said the cap was originally intended to achieve three things: financial sustainability, greater sporting equality and a more compressed field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted long-term financial sustainability, and I think in that goal, not just have we achieved it, but we\u2019ve exceeded it,\u201d Vowles added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two others, though, that went with it were sporting equity and, effectively, compression of the field, so effectively competitiveness that compressed together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the three goals of cost cap, and those two have failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vowles pointed to the continued dominance of Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari as evidence that the competitive picture has not tightened.<\/p>\n
According to figures he cited, the leading four teams have collected 83 percent of the available points during the five seasons under the cap, compared with a share in the 70s over the previous period he examined.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words, we have made the situation worse, where the top four are the top four and all the rest of us are fighting over, ballpark, 17 percent of the points.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber of times on the podium used to be 10 percent of the time, now it\u2019s 5 percent of the time. I can give you a whole bunch of statistics, but the cost cap has made it worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Williams](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/XPB_1441127_HiRes.jpg\")
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Williams finished well down the order in both practice sessions in Malaysia. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
For Vowles, the problem is particularly acute for teams attempting to undo years of underinvestment while working within the same financial limit as rivals that already possess more advanced facilities and processes.<\/p>\n
His move from Mercedes to Williams ahead of the 2023 season gave him first-hand experience of that gap, with money that could otherwise be directed towards performance instead required to modernise the operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I hadn\u2019t appreciated or realised when you do that jump is just how little exists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a cost cap, I\u2019m not spending money on the car. I\u2019m spending millions, tens of millions actually, just on basic systems, so you just know where a part is in the factory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s not going to the car, it\u2019s not going to a front wing, it\u2019s not going to an upgrade. It\u2019s going on systems that I need to do just to do the very basics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019re caught in a cost cap trap, because if I do anything short-term, and I always talk about investing in the future, now you understand why.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I do anything that\u2019s about this year, I will slow myself down in the future, and I can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vowles said that leaves Williams facing a choice between pursuing short-term gains and continuing to build the foundations it believes are necessary to become competitive in the future.<\/p>\n
He later estimated it costs Williams around 30 percent more than his previous team simply to produce a basic car because of inefficiencies across its tools, supply chain and other systems.<\/p>\n
Vowles does not want the cap removed, instead arguing F1 should consider a mechanism that gives teams more scope to address those inherited weaknesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solution isn\u2019t to take cost cap away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I said before, we have a brilliantly financially stable sport now as a result of it, but we do need to think about what mechanisms we have in there to make sure we\u2019re all playing with the same tools and the same mechanisms, because today we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n
One possibility raised by Vowles was linking additional allowance to championship points or finishing position, with any benefit phased in over time rather than providing an immediate jump up the order.<\/p>\n
He stressed the aim would still be to reward the best-performing teams, saying a team such as Mercedes should continue to win if it does the strongest job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you\u2019re trying to do is dig out, honestly, 20 years, in my case, of underinvestment that I can\u2019t really do in the cost cap,\u201d Vowles added.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s get that back on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore agreed the regulations could be simplified, suggesting F1 put all relevant expenditure under one overall limit rather than continuing with multiple exclusions.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the best is to put everything inside the budget cap, whatever is the number,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur offered a counterpoint, noting the sport already varies wind tunnel access according to championship position and highlighting the financial health the cap has helped create.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have to keep in mind is that before the cost cap, 2018, 2017, 2016, for sure the business in general was much worse, but we had also five or six teams in bankruptcy or almost in bankruptcy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s not just the fact that the business is going well, it\u2019s the fact that we are sending the message that everybody can compete, right or wrong, but this is the message.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this is also attracting new investors and new OEMs in the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Formula 1 introduced the cost cap in 2021 in an effort to improve teams\u2019 financial sustainability while also creating a more competitive and closely matched field.<\/p>\n