Formula 1 has a $145 million budget cap, but this does not seem to be an issue for Mercedes as the team officially withdrew from next week’s Pirelli wet weather tire test at Paul Ricard. Ferrari will take its place in the grand event instead of them because it is cheaper than having two teams present and testing simultaneously.
Mercedes has decided to pull out of the next week’s Pirelli wet weather tire test at Paul Ricard, leaving Ferrari as a sole participant in this grand event. Mercedes says that they are bowing out due to cost concerns linked with Formula 1’s $145 million budget cap.
Mercedes was once set to participate in Pirelli’s 2022 18-inch wheel development program, but Valtteri Bottas car crash at the Emilia Romagna GP earlier this year has caused Germany-based team Mercedes a lot of setbacks. This two-day test will be held next week and it is all going down on Southern France soil!
Despite initial plans, Mercedes is unable to take part in Pirelli’s 2022 18-inch wheel development program. Instead, they will be testing their new wheels next week at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Southern France.
Mercedes withdrew from the event due to its concern with negativity in social media.
The Mercedes-Benz brand was set to pocket $400,000 for participating in this year’s Formula One race season opener slated for last Sunday but it backed out of the decision after a torrent of bad press and negative comments on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter which resulted because an article published by The Times newspaper accusing them being at fault over one driver’s death during testing earlier this month.
“We are trying to make the budget cap, which is not trivial and we couldn’t take the costs related to the tyre test and we wouldn’t have been able to send our mechanics on such a long journey,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.
