Horner speaks out against RRA

When you are a team principal in Formula One it often helps if you can prove to be a good team boss and a politician.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is a fine example of this over the past couple of weeks.

On the one hand he has had to prove that he is a good team boss within the Red Bull garage following the fall out in Malaysia between the team and three-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

Then on the other hand, he’s had to show that he can be a politician and fight Red Bull’s cause in the forever ongoing arguments over things such as a new Concorde Agreement or the Resource Restriction Agreement [RRA].

Obviously all the teams will have their own views, depending on which part of the grid they operate from and whether or not they are a manufacturer or a team.

For example Mercedes and Ferrari might want one thing as a team and engine manufacturer, whilst McLaren and Red Bull are likely to want another.

The politics then take centre stage over which teams will compromise first in order for an agreement to be reached.

It would appear that everyone in Formula One would like to see a cap on spending, as Formula One attempt to bring costs down after previous years of escalated spending in the pursuit of the tiniest of margins. But no-one can appear to agree on how to do that.

The current idea that has been put forward is the Resource Restriction Agreement [RRA]. Or in crude terms a spending cap.

Some important figures in Formula One believe that this is the way forward, but others such as Horner do not back the plans.

‘We have been talking about a budget cap for about five years now. The hardest thing in the world is to police what a company spends, A resource restriction is an agreement that is fundamentally flawed because of the structures of different companies: Ferrari operates in a completely different way to McLaren or Mercedes or Red Bull. Horner told Autosport Magazine.

An RRA could be enforced by the FIA, if its eventually agreed and put into place over the forthcoming negotiations.

The latest talks involve both the RRA and Concorde Agreement and when eventually agreed, will be used right through to 2020. So the decisions now are crucial in regards to how the sport will be shaped and governed over the next few years with the FIA putting forward proposals on entry fees, cost control and a new governance structure.

Horner would like to see this done by more stable regulations with tighter regulations in regards to chassis and engines to lower costs, instead of the constant changes that see teams forever returning to the drawing board following another switch in laws.

‘The best way to control costs is through stable regulations.

‘For example the biggest impact on Sauber’s costs next year will be a change of regulations with the drive train, so really the most sensible way to contain costs are stable, clear and concise regulations – both sporting and technical.’