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Budget caps back on the agenda - Horner

ESPNF1 Staff
February 13, 2011 « Barrichello sets the early pace | »
Christian Horner, Sebastian Vettel, Adrian Newey and Mark Webber with the new Red Bull RB7 © Sutton Images
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The idea of budget caps in Formula One triggered a political war two years ago, but it is back on the agenda now according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

In 2009 the teams vetoed plans for a $60 million budget cap and instead introduced Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA); a limit on certain areas of team spending such as staff numbers and the number of days testing allowed. But there were significant exclusions such as marketing costs and engine development.

But Horner told the Guardian the sport should stop tinkering at the edges of cost-cutting. "We agree with restricting activity but don't cherry-pick ... let's do a transparent once-and-for-all deal with this," he said.

The teams currently self-police their spending and Horner added "the other major problem Red Bull Racing had with the RRA was [other teams] wanted to introduce a penalty which just encourages infighting. The little teams see an opportunity to make some income and you end up with a situation of whistle-blowing. You can see it at the moment, it is putting the teams against each other which is not what Fota was supposed to do."

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