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Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has called out the FIA’s decision to increase the cost cap for Sauber/Audi, accounting for the greater labour costs in Switzerland, where the team are based.
“Why does a team based in Switzerland have an exemption?” the Haas chief fumed in Las Vegas. “Everybody chooses where to set up the team. Between London and Oxford and north of England, prices are different,” Komatsu said.
“So where do you stop? Where you draw the line? And if you look at those things, you have to look at all the social benefits and everything, and also [for] people to live in Switzerland, the reasoning can be different, right?
“You know, I remember a long time ago trying to hire somebody from Sauber, but this guy loved the team, loved mountains. So he didn’t want to come to England. So all those things come into the equation.
“I think it’s very dangerous to look at one dimension and say, ‘Okay, it’s more expensive here’, you can just look at the price of a beer or something, and then saying, ‘Okay, it’s more expensive – therefore you should give an exemption’.”