Formula One’s mind-blowing numbers game is a mounting puzzle and concern for cash-strapped teams in danger of being swallowed up in enough debt to sink them without trace.
As moves are afoot to increase the number of races from 19 to 20 and perhaps 21, there are no such worries for the mega-wealthy big three teams of Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes-Benz. At least, not that they would let on.

Not so Lotus. They are the season’s surprise package with comeback champion Kimi Raikkonen lifting them to third place in the championship, but that has not isolated them from a monetary freefall.
And if it can happen to high-fliers like them, what hope for the also-rans Caterham and Marussia?
Lotus team boss Eric Boullier has fired the opening salvo of warning shots amid suspicions that they are in dire financial straits. So much so I heard whispers that they were late in paying Kimi Raikkonen. And that really is a serious matter.

But not only was their star turn forced to hang on for his take-home, the suppliers and the race personnel, I hear, all suffered delays in salary pay-outs.

Frenchman Boullier, who could well yet mastermind a second title for Finland’s Raikkonen with half the season still to go, has to cope with a rumoured debt of $160 million (Dh587.53 million).

He urges a brake on outlay and, like most of his rival team bosses, would not encourage a costly increase in the number of races.

“To keep teams competitive,” he argues, “we need to keep a minimum budget with our resources.
“Don’t forget in the beginning of the 90s a top team would spend maybe £40 million [Dh227.03 million] — but nowadays it is upwards of £100 million. We have to put down that cost.

“I don’t think it is fair if only three teams, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, can still afford to invest in the old way and can spend a lot on the car. We can’t do that,” Boullier says.

“The sport’s regulators should find a way around it, to reduce costs. And I am happy to say there are some discussions going on to move forward.”

Formula One’s shopping list, with teams like Ferrari forking out $470 million a season, goes like this: the race car shell costs $125 million, engines, with about 10 used a season, cost $130 million; testing takes up $15 million; a top-paid driver like Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso earns $47 million; and the hospitality bill is $15 million.

So what comes back? Prize money works out like this: the champions earn $47 million; runners-up $40 million; third-placed $32.5 million... with $10 million for tenth place.

Boullier revealed the team’s money flow could be restarted without a hitch, with an incoming new partner expected in the next couple of weeks.

“We still can’t spend the same money as Ferrari and Mercedes,” he said

Whether, in the light of recent salary setbacks, Raikkonen, a target for Red Bull and Ferrari, is prepared to risk another pay freeze and opts to stay put, is a poser intriguing me and all of Formula One.

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Kimi Raikkonen says he will employ gut instinct to decide whose car he will be driving in 2014. Raikkonen, the 2007 champion, is the favourite to replace Mark Webber at Red Bull next year, in front of the Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo.

"There is going to be the overall package and whatever feels right for me," he said. "Whatever the decision will be might feel stupid to somebody else, it might just feel right for me.

"I have no idea what will happen, we have to wait and see what will come, but hopefully whatever it will be it will be the right choice.

"Basically everything has to feel right. In the end it comes down to whatever I think is the right one. There will be no guarantee the choice will be a good one in the long run but I am fine with whatever the outcome will be. You live with your choices."

Red Bull's team principal, Christian Horner, says he will choose Webber's replacement before the end of August. "We are homing in on our position and we will take the summer break to reflect on it and make a decision after that," he said.

The Formula One world is hanging on the protagonists' every word, as Red Bull nears a decision about who will replace Mark Webber in 2014.

Rumours in the Hungaroring paddock swirled that a contract is being prepared with Daniel Ricciardo's name on it, but the young Australian insisted: "I haven't seen one!"

The time, however, is looming.

"Usually there's two or three press guys turning up for my media sessions, today it was more like 20 or 30," the Toro Rosso driver said in Hungary.

Their wait continues for now, but it will end soon.

In Budapest, the last race before a four-week break in the calendar, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner revealed: "We'll take probably the summer break to reflect.

"Then it (the decision) is going to be Spa or Monza but it's not going to be later than that I don't think."

Ricciardo's Toro Rosso teammate Jean-Eric Vergne was once considered in the running for the plum seat next to Sebastian Vettel, but Horner admitted it is now definitely a two-horse race.

As the speculation increases about who will replace Mark Webber at Red Bull next season, former champion Kimi Raikkonen remains unsure if he will stay at Lotus.

Webber announced last month that he is quitting Formula One at the end of the season to race sports cars for German manufacturer Porsche, and there has been a guessing game since over which driver Red Bull will pick to compete alongside three-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel.

The 33-year-old Raikkonen is one of the favorites, and the 2007 F1 champion has yet to commit his future to Lotus.

"There's not really one (factor). It's going to be the overall package and whatever feels right for me," he said Thursday ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. "Whatever decision it will be might feel stupid for somebody else but it might just feel right for me. I have no idea what will happen, we will have to wait and see."

Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne of France both race for Toro Rosso - Red Bull's sister team - and are reportedly among the contenders.

Raikkonen's decision with Lotus may hinge on how competitive he thinks the team is going to be next season, when car changes will impact the sport.

"It's a combination of things, it has to be right on racing, outside of racing, basically everything just has to feel right," he said. "There is no guarantee the choice will be the good one in the long run ... You live with the choices."

The 2014 regulations will set the sport's engineers the challenge of completing a 300-kilometer race distance on a fuel load of just 100 kg. To do so, teams will switch from naturally aspirated 2.4-liter V8 engines to 1.6-liter V6 turbocharged hybrid Power Units.

"Obviously you can't have any guarantee what will happen next year with any teams and any cars," Raikkonen said. "One engine manufacturer gets it right. (So) it might be a long season for some teams and an easy one for others."

Raikkonen is one of the most reclusive, softly-spoken drivers in F1.

He was asked how he would cope with the extra media demands should he join the most powerful team in F1 - and the Finn answered that question as coolly and dispassionately as he does most others.

"I've been in most of the top teams and I know exactly how it goes," he said.

Whatever team Raikkonen chooses, Lewis Hamilton - who succeeded him as F1 champion - expects the same challenge.

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Red Bull Racing are expecting to announce their plans for their second driver in 2014 alongside Sebastian Vettel after the August summer break, with team principal Christian Horner confirming that the choice is now essentially between Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo.

"We want the two fastest and strongest drivers that we can put in the car for next year. I think both Daniel and Kimi would represent extremely good options," Horner said in Hungary on Thursday. "There's been some interesting applicants over the last few weeks but fundamentally we're still looking at the same drivers."

Ricciardo worked with Red Bull during last week's Young Driver Test at Silverstone and clearly impressed the team: "Daniel, what he has demonstrated so far, has been very positive," agreed Horner, while adding that he felt it was too soon to consider Ricciardo's current Toro Rosso team mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

"I think he [Vergne] deserves a seat in F1 and should he not be successful with the Red Bull seat then it would make logical sense for him to continue at Toro Rosso," said Horner. "I think at this stage it's probably too early for him, which is why we chose to look at Daniel."

But if anything, it's Raikkonen who seems to be the front-runner to replace Mark Webber in the world championship winning team next season. "Kimi's qualities speak for themselves," agreed Horner. "He has a proven track record. You can't question Kimi's credentials."

The one potential stumbling point in hiring Raikkonen might be the expected salary demands from the 2007 world champion, reputed to be one of the highest-paid drivers on the grid since he returned to F1 with Lotus after a two-year hiatus from the sport in 2010 and 2011.

But Horner said that money was not an option and that for him securing "the two fastest and strongest drivers that we can put in the car for next year" was the most important element in making the decision over Webber's replacement.

"Of course, finances are always a factor," said Horner in Hungary, before going on to explain that the money the team could make by ensuring they finish as high up in the constructor championship more than justified the expense of paying a higher driver salary.

"The difference between first and second or second and third and fourth is a significant amount in the constructors' world championship," he pointed out. "So the financial element of it, if you don't make the right decision, is going to impact you anyway if you are not scoring constructors' points. So that isn't really an element in our decision making."

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