Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff: No more money for car development?

Is Mercedes running out of money for new parts halfway through the season? Following the Dutch Grand Prix, which saw both Mercedes drivers finish on the podium (Kimi Antonelli second, George Russell third), team principal Toto Wolff sounded the alarm over costs!

Speaking to the media after the race, the Austrian said: “We don’t have the money to produce further developments in bulk. We’re trying to spread the developments evenly throughout the season, based on our calculations of when we can introduce the biggest updates, and with a view to maximising our points haul in the World Championship.”

Wolff speaks again about the budget cap

However, the Austrian points out: “We can only do what we can do. That’s why it’s a development race. When you introduce an upgrade, each of the top teams gets at least a few tenths from it. And that’s exactly what you lose. So it’s been a bit more difficult recently than at the start of the year.”

This is not the first time Wolff has commented on upgrades and the mandatory budget cap. Earlier in the season, he had already hinted, in the direction of Ferrari and their team principal Fred Vasseur, that he wondered where the Scuderia had got the money for all those upgrades.

All teams must keep their spending within a prescribed budget cap – which is the same for every team – over the course of a season. For the 2026 season, this stands at 215 million US dollars. That currently equates to around 184 million euros or 172 million Swiss francs. With this money, they must cover, for example, car development, production and logistics. There are only a few exceptions, such as some top salaries.

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George Russell vor den Ferrari von Leclerc und Hamilton

Foto: XPB

This means, therefore, that the teams must manage their finances carefully throughout the season. Anyone who burns through their budget early in the year will not be able to develop much towards the end. And anyone who wears out too many parts may have less money to invest in developing upgrades, because replacing them costs money. Those who save money in the spring are more flexible come the season finale. The budget cap is intended to bring the teams closer together in terms of performance in the long term and make running a Formula 1 team more economical.

Different development strategies

When asked about Ferrari and McLaren and whether they had the funds, Wolff said at Zandvoort: “We’ll see whether they can still fit as much new material onto the car towards the end of the season as they do now. Some may be pursuing a different strategy and spending more at the start and in the middle of the year than towards the end.”

Did Mercedes perhaps spend too much at the start of the season? Wolff: “There are many factors to consider. Did we spend too much on the initial development? No, I don’t think so. We’re an organisation of a certain size and with a certain infrastructure. We had a very fast car. We dropped between 50 and 100 points due to reliability issues. That would have given us a bigger buffer. We’re continuing to work on implementing our plan whilst working within our financial realities.”