Damage Costs Eating Into Teams Budgets

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These are the estimated costs carried out by the various Formula One teams so far this season. The problem this season is the cost cap has been reduced to $145 Million per team from $175 Million last year. I think one has to look at these figures with an open mind as Bottas's crash at Imola was not entirely his fault yet the car was a virtual write off.

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Very close to a total write off.

His crash could affect the upgrades the team were planning this season plus any development for next seasons 2022 car. The last thing a team needs is a write off with a power unit costing $7.5 million on it's own. $2 million for one decent crash as they are able to salvage parts with an average price tag on a crash estimated at $350 000 this has to go down as a serious one.

No one blames Bottas for this incident as it was partially George Russel's fault as well which hasn't exactly endeared him to the Mercedes team even though he is a Toto Wolff signed driver. I do believe his reaction after the incident has set his career back and Bottas will be given another season next year with Mercedes.

It is not really the cost as teams can afford these damages but it affects their cost caps on what they can spend. Mercedes have lost nearly $3 million of their original cap (Hamilton plus Bottas combined) which is way above what they would have expected with only 30% of the season being raced so far.

A team like Alpine Renault is sitting pretty right now with only $245 000 wasted on accident repairs. This as we know can change over one race weekend as Mick Schumacher proved last weekend taking his tally to just under $2 million. Up to that point he had been on $500 000 and shot up with a serious crash last weekend.

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Estimated $500 000 damage repair for Team Haas when Mick Schumacher went in to the Monte Carlo barriers.

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New gear box for Ferrari's LeClerc estimated total damage cost somewhere close to $1 million.

A common cost is a front wing which now costs in the region of $150 000 and that is a regular part we see being replaced as cars clip each other or the barriers.

For the first time last week I heard over the team radio to the FIA officials if they could please return the carbon that was knocked off Max Verstappen's car during practice. Max hit a curb and a large chunk of carbon fiber fell off which could be recycled and used again. This is something teams in the past would just throw away, but things have changed.

Looking at the table the one driver who is costing his team some serious money is Yuki Tsunoda as his accidents have all been self inflicted spinning off into the barriers on a few occasions. Teams need reliable drivers who don't spend the teams budget through driver error.

Someone like Bottas who has been successful is earning his keep by the points he racks up each season. 1 point is worth $1 million today so this season he has bought in $59 million already. Someone like Tsunoda though has bought in $8 million, but cost another $2 Million so has lost a quarter of their earnings.

This will be an interesting table to revisit at the end of the season to see how everyone fared. I don't expect Bottas to be leading the table as others are surely going to overtake him within the coming weeks. My money is on Tsunoda to top this table along with Mazepin.