The FIA has introduced a cost cap offset in Formula 1’s 2026 financial regulations, due to the Sauber team’s higher salaries in Switzerland.

Sauber, to become the works Audi team in 2026, has long argued its staff costs are a big disadvantage as it fights to become competitive due to the much higher wages and cost of living in Switzerland compared to its rival teams in the UK and Italy.

It therefore pushed for the new regulations to include an offset for teams operating in countries with higher salary levels than the UK or Italy.

According to figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the average wage in Switzerland in 2022 was $80,000 compared to $54,000 in the UK, where most other teams are based. That means, since the introduction of the cost cap, the Hinwil-based team has dealt with significantly less headroom to spend resources on performance and car development.

The FIA has now agreed that Sauber’s situation is not fair and will work on a cost cap offset from 2026 based on OECD salary data, which has been incorporated in the latest version of the financial regulations. 

Speaking to Nikolas Tombazis, single-seater director for the FIA, he confirmed that Sauber’s situation led to a regulatory rethink for 2026.

“It is our responsibility to be fair,” Tombazis said at Austin’s US Grand Prix. “It became obvious to us that salaries in certain countries are much, much higher and cost of life is much higher in certain countries.

Nikolas Tombazis, Head of Single Seater Technical Matters, FIA

Photo by: Mark Sutton

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“I see it myself, I live in Geneva. Whenever I go to the supermarket I think about it. And we felt that a team based in a high labour cost country like Switzerland would end up having approximately 30% or even 40% fewer people working on the car, which we felt was fundamentally unfair.

“We’ve decided that this could either lead to us trying to take some protections from a regulatory point, or it would eventually mean that teams could not operate, and a team like Sauber would have to basically close and move to another country, which we don’t think is the right way for the world championship to operate.

“So, that’s why there’s an adjustment in the financial regulations for 2026 which will basically adjust the salaries that get considered in the cost cap by some factors that get determined by OECD data, data that’s available to the world. As we get data from teams, we know that this OECD data is very consistent with the salary differences that exist within Formula 1 context and amongst the engineers of teams. So it’s not just OECD data.”

For 2026, the F1 cost cap has been raised from $135m to $215m after including a whole raft of new items under the financial regulations.

Rather than a large net increase in the amount F1 teams will be spending, the new figure will now include several items that were previously exempted. The higher figure also takes into account inflation adjustments, as well as changes to the $USD exchange rate.

The additional $300,000 allowance for each sprint race is an item now included in the base figure, while the $1.8m allowance for any race over the ceiling of 21 has been raised to 24 Grand Prix per season.

Finally, teams can also no longer write off certain R&D costs made under the UK research and development expenditure credit scheme.

ANDY CARROLL has sent his cult status with new club Bordeaux soaring.

The ex-England striker plays for less than his rent – but you would have put your house on him hitting the winner against Avranches.

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The Newcastle legend, 35, did just that – to make it five goals in three games for the fallen French giants, who play in the FOURTH TIER following a double relegation over the summer.

This time the former Liverpool star controlled with his first touch and lashed into the far corner with his second.

Despite that 28th-minute clincher, Bordeaux remain in the lower reaches of National 2 – Group B.

That’s after financial problems forced them to turn part-time at the end of last season and drop two divisions.

But fans love the way Carroll – who recently enjoyed his first holiday with new partner Lou Teasdale – has embraced such a tricky gig.

The ex-West Ham and Reading man has revealed he rejected more lucrative offers, including from Saudi Arabia, in favour of Bordeaux.

He told RMC Sport: “To be honest, it even costs me money to have gone to play for the Girondins.

“But I play football and I’m simply happy to play football.”

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And after seeing his eager poaching against Avranches, supporters shared their love for the 6ft 4ins targetman.

One wrote: “It’s better to play for Passion He’ll be a legend if he takes them back to Ligue 1.”

A second posted: “What he is doing is for pure football.”

Other verdicts on Carroll’s latest display included: “He still got it Top player ” and “Wow congratulations to him great job”.

And one fan said: “That’s incredible. Andy Carroll is on fire at Bordeaux. Keep it up.”

Another raved: “Fact that he has sacrificed to play for the club & delivering.”

All in all, Carroll’s definitely tuning up well, with little more than two months until his second Christmas in France, having been with Amiens last season.

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Noa-Lynn van Leuven has become the first transgender woman to qualify for the PDC World Darts Championship after beating Beau Greaves in the final of Women’s Series Event 21 in Leicester.

The 28-year-old from the Netherlands threw a 109.64 average in her 5-3 win over Greaves to secure her place at Alexandra Palace in December.

It was a fourth Women’s Series event win of 2024 for Van Leuven, while Greaves beat Sherrock 5-1 in the Event 22 final later on Saturday for her eighth Women’s Series title of the year.

With only two events remaining, both to be played on Sunday, Van Leuven is guaranteed to take one of the two World Championship qualifying spots available from the Women’s Series Order of Merit.

That list is currently led by England’s Greaves, 20, who said after her Women’s World Matchplay success in July that she did not intend to take her place at the World Championship and would instead try to defend her WDF Women’s World Championship title.

Sherrock is currently in the second qualification spot, with Japan’s Mikuru Suzuki and England’s Lisa Ashton the only players able to catch her.

Sherrock will also need to win both Women’s Series events on Sunday to deny Van Leuven a place alongside Greaves at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton next month.

The FIA says the matter surrounding Red Bull’s front bib adjuster is now closed in its opinion, as it rules out a wider investigation.

Motor racing’s governing body has acted for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in adding seals to the Red Bull car to ensure that an adjustment device in the RB20 cockpit that can raise or lower the front bib cannot be used outside the regulations.

That came following suspicions from rival teams that Red Bull could have been altering its ride height under parc ferme conditions – which would be illegal.

However, having conducted a thorough examination of the Red Bull system over the Austin weekend, the FIA says it is satisfied that the measures it has in place mean there can be no rule breach.

And while the governing body admits that it is impossible to be sure that Red Bull never used the device illegally in the past, it does not think it practical to dig any deeper into the matter.

The FIA’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis said: “I mean, honestly, can I say with complete certainty about whether there’s ever been anything irregular? No. Can I say that the matter is closed? Yes, absolutely.”

Nikolas Tombazis, Head of Single Seater Technical Matters, FIA

Photo by: Mark Sutton

While McLaren has called on the FIA to investigate further whether Red Bull did use the device in the past, Tombazis said that there was no realistic way to find answers as to what happened historically. And the federation sees no reason to launch any further action simply based on suspicion from competitors.

“To go and retroactively actually prove exactly what has happened before is difficult, and we don’t think we have the ability to go and investigate two years’ worth of situation,” he said.

“Generally, when we decide to escalate the matter, and to go to the stewards or tribunal or whatever, we want to have some reasonable indication – so not based on hearsay or just speculation.

“As the design is not illegal, we believe that the correct action is to say: ‘Well, okay, certain things need to happen in order to guarantee there’s no ongoing sort of concern.’ But we also have to also draw a line in time and say that there are certain things we can’t go into much more detail [with].”

Tombazis said it was not realistic to think that analysis of garage CCTV images that the FIA captures from each weekend would yield any evidence of the team altering the device.

“People are allowed to check things on the car, and it’s a matter of how easy that is,” he said.

“If you have to dismount the whole bodywork and do 50 things, then obviously it would be visible in the camera. But on something as simple and as quick as that, I don’t think you can realistically check that on cameras or virtual images or so on.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko, Consultant, Red Bull Racing, talk in the garage as mechanics work on the car of Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

While some senior paddock figures have suggested that the FIA should formally speak to Red Bull staff, or seek potential whistleblowers, to be totally sure it was never used in the past, Tombazis does not see that as a route worth pursuing.

 “We need to always consider that we’re dealing with humans,” he said. “We’re dealing with humans changing conditions: with loyalties – old loyalties, and new loyalties. So, one has to be a bit careful about how you escalate that.

“We also don’t want to be fitting lie detectors on people and doing interrogations under bright lights, or something like that. That is not what we want to do here.

“I’ve obviously worked in the past in teams, quite a lot, and I’ve employed people from other teams. I think there’s sometimes a tendency to say, well, where I came from, we were doing XYZ.

“And sometimes one has to really interpret these comments very, very carefully. You cannot just base an escalation on a few comments like that.”

TEN-MAN Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season as brilliant Bournemouth dealt them a South Coast setback.

The Gunners travelled to face Andoni Iraola’s men having won five and drawn three of their opening eight matches this term.

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But their task was made a tricky one when William Saliba was shown a red card on the half-hour.

Ryan Christie brilliantly fired the hosts into a deserved lead following a well-worked set piece routine 20 minutes from time.

Justin Kluivert then sealed his side’s incredible 2-0 victory from the penalty spot on 79 minutes.

Here’s how SunSport rated each Gunners performer on the day.

DAVID RAYA – 5

Was lucky to get away with one poor pass out from the back early on. Made amends for another error by saving smartly with the legs to deny Marcus Tavernier after initially spilling a Semenyo cross-cum-shot before clumsily conceding the penalty.

BEN WHITE – 4

England outcast was back in the team after four games out, but did not look 100 per cent fit and found it tough going containing the lively Antoine Semenyo down the Bournemouth left in the first half and Dango Ouattara in the second.

WILLIAM SALIBA – 3

Usually calm and collected under pressure but paid the price for a rare moment of panic when he hauled down Bournemouth striker Evanilson to get himself sent off and will miss next weekend’s crunch clash at home to title rivals Liverpool as a result.

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GABRIEL – 5

Given the captain’s armband in the absence of the stricken Bukayo Saka, but not at his commanding best, especially after losing centre-back partner Saliba. Did not really step up to the leadership plate.

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RICCARDO CALAFIORI – 6

Did a better job containing Semenyo when Bournemouth’s dangerman switched wings at half-time than White did in the first half, but unable to have his usual influence going forward.

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THOMAS PARTEY – 5

Back in his traditional central midfield berth after being used as an emergency right back in the 3-1 win over Southampton. Was second best up against Bournemouth’s impressive Lewis Cook.

DECLAN RICE – 5

Another of Arsenal’s international contingent who looked sluggish after the break from domestic duty. Struggled to impose himself on the game in midfield and unable to get forward as much as he usually does. Did his bit dropping into the back-line after Saliba’s dismissal.

RAHEEM STERLING – 4

Former England man was deployed on the right wing in place of the injured Bukayo Saka and gave the ball away a few times when in promising positions before being sacrificed after the Saliba red card.

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MIKEL MERINO – 5

Finally able to make his full Premier League debut after an injury-affected start to his Arsenal career and showed some nice touches. Also fired into the side-netting with the visitors’ best first half opening.

LEANDRO TROSSARD – 4

Started the game well but sold Saliba short with a poor back pass that led to the red card and disappeared from the action after that before being subbed shortly after the half-hour mark.

KAI HAVERTZ – 5

The German cut an isolated figure up front, especially after Arsenal were reduced to ten men, but worked tirelessly for the team without ever looking like adding to his run of scoring in the previous four games in all competitions.

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SUBSTITUTES

Jakub Kiwior (for Sterling, 37) – 4

Gabriel Martinelli (for Trossard, 64) – 5

Gabriel Jesus (for Kiwior, 81) – N/A

Ethan Nwaneri (for Merino, 81) – N/A