Verstappen: F1 driver salary cap would be completely wrong

Max Verstappen says it would be “completely wrong” to introduce a salary cap for Formula One drivers who “put our lives at risk”. F1 introduced a budget cap at the start of last season and that figure was reduced to $140m per team this year.

There has been talk of a limit being place on the wages drivers are paid, but world champion Verstappen made it perfectly clear what he thinks about the prospect of that being implemented. “It’s still a bit vague. I think no one really knows where it is going to go but from my side, it’s completely wrong,” he said ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “I think at the moment, F1 is becoming more and more popular and everyone is making more and more money, including the teams and FOM [Formula One Management]. Everyone is benefitting, so why should the drivers, with their IP rights and everything, be capped? We actually bring the show and put our lives at risk, because we do, eventually. So for me, it’s completely wrong.”

Verstappen says youngsters making their way in junior categories would also be affected. He added: “Also, in all of the junior categories, if you see how many of the drivers have a sponsor or a backer who will have a certain percentage of their income in F1 or whatever. I think it’s going to limit that a lot because they’ll never get their return in money and if you get a cap, so it will hurt all the junior categories as well and I don’t think you want that.”