Toto Wolff Reveals Budget Crisis For Mercedes That Could Continue in 2025

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed a big issue from the 2024 season, admitting that the team came dangerously close to breaching the cost cap and had to adopt measures to reduce expenses.

A series of crashes forced Mercedes to spend heavily on repairs and spare parts. One of the most costly incidents occurred when Andrea Kimi Antonelli spun off and crashed into the barriers during his debut practice run in Monza. This serves as a warning for the upcoming 2025 season, which will mark the rookie's first full year in the premier class.

Despite the team remaining within the $135 million budget cap, Wolff said the limit caused Mercedes to remain cash-strapped. As well as Kimi Antonelli's crash, George Russell's big crashes from the United States Grand Prix weekend and the Mexico City Grand Prix added significantly to the expenses.

Wolff revealed that the team was unable to revert to its older spec W15 F1 car in Mexico due to the unavailability of spares, and the lack of more spending meant Mercedes had no other choice but to make use of what it had. Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, as quoted by RacingNews365, Wolff was asked how close Mercedes came to breaching the cost cap limit in 2024. He said:

"Very close. You can't build up a big nest egg. It's more the case that you overshoot at the beginning of the year and then start to save.

"At the end of the year, we had to do without some upgrades in aerodynamics and mechanics because there was simply no money left to produce the corresponding parts.

"The accidents at the end of the season really get you into trouble. Kimi [Antonelli] in Monza, George [Russell] in Austin and Mexico. At one point we only had one set of a certain type of wing.

"In Mexico we couldn't go back to the old aero specification because there were no spares available. There was no money left within the cost limit for new ones."

Introduced in 2021, the cost cap in Formula 1 sets a financial limit on how much each team can spend during a season. The FIA will officially announce later this year whether all the teams have been able to restrict their spending within the budget cap. Despite the challenges Mercedes faced last year, Wolff reckons the cost cap rule has been beneficial to F1. He said:

"Definitely. Because it has made the teams profitable and therefore the sport sustainable."