F1's strategic thinkers have agreed on a raft of cost-cutting measures to be brought into force pending ratification by the F1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council.
The measures awaiting ratification include an engine supply cost-cap with tiered pricing for year-old power units, a ban on wind tunnel testing coupled with a loosening of CFD restrictions, and a cap on the cost of a gearbox. All pragmatic solutions - not dramatic solutions - to a problem that has plagued the grid for the best part of a decade.
Should the currently agreed measures be put into place, it marks a victory of sorts for the FIA, as the majority of the proposals can be found in the McKinsey report commissioned by the Federation at the beginning of the year.
The McKinsey report proposed three different tiers of cost-cutting solutions, with possible savings of up to 50 percent of current budgets, although the more extreme options brought with them an uncomfortable entry point to customer cars of one sort or another. The current proposals, if approved, are expected to save between £15 million and £18 million per year, a significant chunk of Manor's operating budget and but a drop in the ocean for the big spenders further up the grid.
In the course of their investigation into cost-cutting in F1, McKinsey established that the average shortfall between income and outgoings for the struggling teams was between £25 million and £30 million, meaning that the proposals awaiting ratification will not fully bridge the gap. But every little does help, and the reduced budgetary shortfall would enable teams to lower their sponsorship rates and still find themselves in a stronger financial position than they are at present.
At the start of the season, Toto Wolff was optimistic about the F1 Strategy Group's ability to reduce costs for the grid as a whole, telling reporters at the Friday press conference in Melbourne: "There is an intelligent initiative from the FIA involving McKinsey and it's a good process of defining factors where we can reduce costs. That is going pretty well. Then we have to look at your own situation, from our team we have customers and we are trying to support them wherever we can within the commercial framework and this is what we do and take it from there."
The same press conference saw Monisha Kaltenborn and Claire Williams highlight the collaborative efforts being made to reduce costs to a level where Formula One was once again financially sustainable for non-works outfits.
"Well, in the last few weeks and months, the FIA has been particularly active in this area and different options were looked at," Kaltenborn said. "I think since all teams have the opportunity to actually give their input into it - a very vast area I would say was considered so there are a couple of options at the table. I think what we have to just make sure is that costs come down to a sensible level which allows teams to be sustainable and yet the show is not compromised, the competition is not compromised and it remains very challenging technically."
"I think all teams have worked hard over the past few months to come up with the variation on the cost control measures that we can undertake moving forward to ensure the sustainability of this sport and everyone is working hard on that," Williams said. "The process isn't finished yet but we're looking forward to the result of it. As Williams have always been very vocal about it, we're committed to cost control measures in Formula One and finding them."
Change may have been a long time coming, but the F1 Strategy Group appears to have finally done something that encapsulates good sense and long-term strategic thinking.