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Lewis Hamilton has identified the main ‘handicap’ future Formula 1 stars will face if the championship goes ahead with a salary cap without amending a crucial commercial limitation for drivers.
F1 has unanimous team support to implement a $30m salary cap across pairings from 2023.
Teams would be allowed to spend more than this on drivers but it would be unlikely as any difference would then be taken out of the team’s operational budget cap, restricting funds that could be spent on aerodynamic development and other beneficial activities.
While such a cap is likely to limit the bumper salaries of only a select few drivers, there will also be the potential knock-on impact of ‘second drivers’ not being able to secure bigger deals because teams will need to pair a higher earner with a lower earner to remain within the cap.
Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Hamilton, still yet to sign a new deal for 2021, may never be affected by this planned legislation. When asked for his thoughts on the salary cap ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix he hinted he’ll leave F1 after 2022 with the comment that “currently the salary cap is supposed to be implemented probably when I’m not even here”.
But the more interesting takeaway from his answer is how he arrowed in on the fact that presently F1 offers a fundamentally less fair environment for a salary cap than the American sports that spawned the idea – because they cannot supplement their wages from the team with as many deals on the side.
“I do think that the drivers here are the stars of the sport,” said Hamilton.
“They’re the ones who bring their brands, and their reputation helps elevate the sport, and help them [the brands] travel around the world.”
And like in other sports, the very best in F1 can expect to maximise their position and platform financially. But limiting a person’s earnings is a controversial move and in the US it’s only really tolerated by the superstars because there are other ways to earn their worth.
NBA star Lebron James has, for many years, earned considerably more from sponsorship off-court than he has his base salary for appearing on it. How F1 currently operates, that is not possible for Hamilton now, let alone a driver of probably lesser global profile in the future.
“If you look at other sports, there have been salary caps,” Hamilton acknowledged. “I think the one difference is that those places the individuals own their image in many areas so then they can try to maximise their image elsewhere.
“But this sport controls pretty much the driver’s image.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted that presently what that means for drivers is “the scope of promoting their brand, endorsement deals etc. are very limited”.
And Hamilton, who is unlikely to be impacted by this legislation even if it does come into force, has (deliberately or unwittingly) identified that is something that must change if F1’s idea is to avoid being fundamentally unfair.
“I do think about the next up and coming young stars that are coming through and I don’t particularly see why they should be handicapped,” he said.
“If they’re bringing something huge to the sport – it is a multi-billion dollar sport – they should be rewarded for what they do bring to it.”
