Jan Bolscher
Friday, September 8, 2023 9:18 AM – Last update: 9:29 AM
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he does not intend to complain about the dominance of Red Bull Racing, despite the fact that the Silver Arrows themselves said they were victims of a rule change in 2020 to counter the team’s dominance.
Mercedes dominated in Formula 1 between 2014 and 2021, but has now handed over the baton to Red Bull Racing. The formation of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez has proven to be untouchable to date and has won all fourteen races to date. Lately there has been a lot of talk about the team’s big lead and whether this is good for the sport. Several criticisms have been made from the Mercedes camp, among others, where Red Bull Racing subsequently said that the Germans also did not make themselves heard when they dominated for seven years in a row.
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Meritocracy
“As team boss, I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon like others have done in the past, by saying that the regulations have to change because we cannot continue with the dominance of one team,” Wolff told GPFans, among others. “If a team dominates like Max did with Red Bull, that’s fair play. This is a meritocracy. As long as you comply with the regulations on a technical, sporting and financial level, we have to say: well done. It’s up to us to to catch up. And if that’s going to take a long time, it’s going to take a long time. I can still remember people screaming when it was us [die domineerden]. Entertainment follows sports, not the other way around. We can’t be WWE with written content. We don’t want that.”
Rule change 2020
This while, according to Wolff himself, Mercedes was held back by a rule change: “We lost the championship in 2021 for various reasons, one of which was the last race,” he continues. “But we also lost because those regulations were intended to limit the lead we had. 2020 was an incredibly dominant year for us, I think it was the best car we have ever had. Towards the end of the season we she [de FIA] the floor. That was to stop us, and we saw the result in 2021. We were not as competitive as Red Bull. In Silverstone we found more potential in the car and put ourselves back in the championship. But those regulations were clearly intended to restore the pecking order.”
2023-09-08 07:20:17
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