The Formula 1 Commission meeting scheduled for Friday at the Austrian Grand Prix has an agenda so packed that some teams have joked two hours might not be enough.
Discussion points are one thing, though. Solutions are another. And as F1’s stakeholders meet for one of their regular rendezvous there are still more questions than answers.
Items tipped to be discussed on Friday at the Red Bull Ring include the FIA’s technical directive on F1 2022 cars’ aerodynamic oscillations and grounding, the dispute over the budget cap and calls for it to be increased to help teams deal with inflation, F1’s desire to increase the number of sprint races for 2023, and perhaps even the long-lost topic of Red Bull’s concern over Aston Martin’s similar-looking F1 car.
The issue of inflation and any adjustment to the cost cap has been a major issue in F1 recently but there are doubts it will be resolved on Friday.
The problem is that several teams claim the $140m baseline figure for the 2022 budget cap is impossible to meet because of an inflation rise that has caused freight and utility costs to rocket.
Teams that are in this position are calling for the budget cap to be increased to cover that rise but smaller teams – which simply were not able to reach the cap in the first place – are against this.
The proposals to address this range from a simple increase in the cap to F1 giving equal, advanced payments to all teams that are recovered later on. Other ideas include exempting freight or utilities from the cost cap.
Unusually, nothing has yet emerged as the favoured idea. Where these meetings can sometimes simply be rubber-stamping exercises, it looks as though a serious discussion is still needed.
So, the only way a resolution is reached is if a proposal is able to gain sufficient support of dissenting voices.
One item that could be discussed but will not be settled in the Commission meeting is the 2026 engine rules.
Although the FIA World Motor Sport Council indicated recently that these would be rubber-stamped in October – the next WMSC meeting – there will be a vote to ratify the rules long before then.
This could even come by the end of July. It will bring an end to a drawn-out process that missed the FIA’s self-imposed December 2021 deadline, although the initial targets for the rules have at least gradually been fleshed out.
Finalising the engine rules has been a divisive subject even within the FIA, and is believed to be a key factor in the recent departure of Peter Bayer – who is understood to have pushed FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to set a date for getting everything finalised.
This is finally on the cards but will not be a part of the F1 Commission meeting. When it does happen, it will allow Porsche and Audi to firm up their 2026 programmes – Porsche with Red Bull, and Audi most likely with Sauber.
