F1 issued stark ‘two-tier championship’ warning over ‘cost cap trap’

Williams team principal James Vowles has warned that Formula 1 has turned into a "two-tier championship" under the financial regulations. Vowles stated that while the cost cap successfully achieved financial sustainability, it failed in its goals of sporting equity and field compression. He noted that the top four teams—Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull—currently score 83 percent of all points, increasing the performance gap across the grid.

Vowles explained that Williams is caught in a "cost cap trap," being forced to spend tens of millions of dollars on fundamental infrastructure and factory systems rather than car upgrades. While he does not advocate abolishing the cost cap, Vowles called for new regulatory mechanisms to ensure smaller teams can compete on equal terms.