F1: Red Bull had to lay off 154 people in 2021 because of budget cap
Compared to 2020, because of the F1 budget cap, Red Bull had to cut a total of 154 jobs at the two companies Red Bull Technology and Red Bull Racing before the 2021 season.
Almost 100 employees in the design department of Red Bull Technology alone being made redundant. How many of them worked on the F1 car is unknown according to Motorsports-Total.
Staff Downsizing 2020 to 2021
| Team | 2020 Staff Size | 2021 Staff Size | Change |
| Red Bull | 875 | 721 | -154 |
| Ferrari | Unknown | Unknown | -6 |
| Mercedes | 1063 | 1004 | -59 |
| Alpine | 778 | 820 | +42 |
| McLaren | 841 | 837 | -4 |
| Sauber | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Aston Martin | 479 | 457 | -22 |
| Haas (excludes USA) | 102 | 108 | +6 |
| AlphaTauri | 332 | 353 | +21 |
| Williams | 675 | 755 | -80 |
At Mercedes, the restructuring was smaller, with 59 employees laid off. And the fact that the Silver Arrows can afford almost 300 more employees than Red Bull is mainly due to the fact that the employees are paid less, at least on average. On average, an employee at Red Bull earned around 160,000 euros per year in 2021, while at Mercedes it was 123,000 euros.
With all the upgrades Mercedes brought in 2022 some people speculate that Mercedes is burying costs under the table to circumvent the budget cap. One way to do it is pay the employees less, but send them a bonus from another part of Mercedes that the FIA does not audit.
With that many employees, Mercedes should be winning every race.