[obmelvin]

Who would actually spend that much money though? Mercedes and maybe Ferrari*? Everyone else would just fall further and further behind.

To me this seems like a necessary transition period. Once new engines and regulations come into play, some of the previous engineering work will become less relevant.

Also, some of Red Bulls current dominance is certainly due to Adrian Newey and his experience with ground effect cars.

* quick google search seems to indicate that Ferrari has roughly 1.3B in cash and Mercedes 26B. So not even a team like Ferrari, who's entire raison d'être is racing, can necessarily afford to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for years on end.