Raising F1 budget cap would ‘tilt playing field’, claims Alpine team chief

Alpine are in fifth place in the championship with a solid car. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The efforts of Formula One’s biggest teams to raise the sport’s budget cap are an attempt to claw back an unfair advantage and indicative of poor planning, according to the Alpine team principal, Otmar Szafnauer.

With the cap intended to level the playing field, Szafnauer said teams are using claims of inflationary pressure as a smokescreen to spend more looking for performance and that he and others will attempt to prevent any regulation change.