The budget cap that was introduced in 2021 limits teams to spending a certain amount over the course of the season, with $145m being the target figure in the first season.
This cap was introduced to bring the field closer together, as the difference in performance between the teams at the top such as Red Bull and the teams at the back such as Williams was becoming ridiculous.
The cap stops the bigger teams from financially blowing the smaller teams out of the water and provides the likes of Haas with the chance to get closer to the top of the grid by spending the same amount as them.
In 2022, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner showed his support for the cap despite his team’s eighth place finish in the champions by claiming that his team were not yet able to reach the spending limit.
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This season, the Haas boss has claimed that the effects of the cap should begin to be seen, as he expects every team, including Haas, to comfortably reach the spending cap.
The mission for Haas is to now work out how to best allocate and spend their budget, with the team already looking to free up funds wherever possible.
Haas have shrunk the size of their pit wall to only accommodate three people, a change which has reportedly freed up $250,000 of the team’s cap that can now be spent elsewhere.
“When you need to make [savings], you look at everything, but not efficiency,” said Steiner.
“When you need money to invest in development, because we are at the cost cap, where do you put it? You have six people out there, or a quarter of a million [dollars] or car updates? I know what we are doing.”
The Haas team principal has revealed that this genius money saving idea came from his team, with Steiner more than happy to remain inside the garage for the benefit of the team.
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“The guys came up with that idea and I said ‘if I need to stay inside, I have no problem to do it as well’. I don’t need to be there,” he explained.
“But they said ‘with three seats, we can cover what we need to cover’ and we rearranged, but it’s mainly a saving to put that money into development because we are at the cost cap.”
With the experienced driver lineup of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg in the car for this season, Haas will be confident of becoming regulars in the point scoring positions.