Why the growing pains of F1’s cost-cap era require patience

By:

Jake Boxall-Legge

May 23, 2023, 3:01 PM

OPINION: A new class system may appear to have developed in Formula 1 since the introduction of the cost cap and new aerodynamic regulations. But time will, hopefully, bring the pack closer together - even if it might just take a little longer than one hoped

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Here’s a sobering statistic to slap you around the face: the top four teams have scored 92% of the available points from the opening five Formula 1 races of the season. The flip side of that statistic is that each of the bottom sextet of teams has been privy to the same maximum budget, the same regulations, and have mustered just 8% of the points on offer in 2023.

Out of context, the four-way domination of the upper echelons in the points presents a bleak picture, but it’s not much of a surprise given how things have been on track. With modern ultra-reliability and four teams exerting their hegemony on this year’s championship, it effectively means that the top eight points places are effectively spoken for barring any bursts of misfortune. That gives the rest of the grid the scraps to fight over.

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Jake Boxall-Legge

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Jake Boxall-Legge Autosport’s Technical Editor. Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.