LM10 wrote: ↑08 May 2023, 23:03
Juzh wrote: ↑08 May 2023, 22:49
Im wondering how long people are still gonna atribute every RB's success down to those 400k from 2021 lol
2.1 million dollars, to be precise. 400k would have been the amount if they had claimed tax credit.
Not sure how much of an effect this had on RB18's and furthermore on RB19's development, but it surely helped them a lot winning the title in 2021. I think I'm not going out on a limb by saying that they would have not won the title in 2021 without cheating the budget cap - considering how it literally was decided on the last lap of the season.
Which means the additional 1.7M for sure did not influence car development - it was something they were eligible to, it was something others got, so it's logical they accounted for it in their planning. Then they screwed up in applying for it, which meant they had a more expensive year than they should have - and that they did formally breach the budget cap for which they were punished - but it did not give them 1.7M more to spend on car development than other teams.
It's more like when two persons buy the same TV at different vendors - one might spend more because the vendors may run different prices (and one may go over their intended budget at that), but they don't get better equipment for it.
So yes, RB broke the cap. Yes, they were punished. No, this breach did not make them dominant. Their dominance is just a matter of coping with the rule changes better than others - and a bit of mid-season reg changes in last season sprinkled in, as before Spa 2022, Ferrari was certainly in the mix. As mentioned by others, it was also Fer and MB not gaining over winter. And yes, that leads to a boring season, but not an exceptional one considering the history of F1, and I do think that the combination of a budget cap, that avoids teams from winning simply based on the size of their pockets, reduced development time for frontrunners, and the law of diminishing returns will lead to more interesting competition in the coming years. Add to that the more interesting midfield and better overtaking, and at least we have better races than the funeral processions of 2014-2020, even if one team is far ahead.
As for this particular race, it was not totally bad. At least the out-of-order starting positions led to some action, Magnussen did well, and great to see Alonso out in front again.