Toto Wolff, the Executive Director of Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, has binned the idea of Mercedes being an opportunist in Formula 1 engine talks with the authorities.
The Austrian boss has been accused of hijacking the talks by pushing hard the narrative of Renault and Ferrari over new engine rules that are likely to happen soon between parties.
The manufacturers hard stance on proposed regulations by Liberty Media, which own F1, and FIA, which regulates the F1 has sparked accusations from rivals.
The rivals accused Mercedes of protecting its strategic advantage, which were strongly rejected by the Wolff. He told that a compromising proposal has been shared with authorities, which could undermine the manufacturers advantage and could make the sport even more competitive for their team.
While responding to accusations, he told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “You can’t be such a super-opportunist. That will bite you one day.
“For us, a change in the engine regulations would even be desirable because we assume that our structure works at Mercedes.
“To avoid a transformation of performance, we would like to start again from scratch. But that would be expensive.
“We therefore call for the rules to be more or less maintained.
“In two years’ time there will be only marginal differences in performance between the now competing engine manufacturers.
“Renault will close up this season. And Honda took a big leap.”
Wolff insisted that the sport should be just but competitive especially for new entrants
“The entry level is high, as in any competition at a certain level,” he added.
“But no one should insist on being competitive from the outset by changing the rules.
“We also had a difficult phase in 2010, ’11 and ’12, and we only managed one victory in this time.
“What kind of service would that be to Formula 1 if you cut the rules in such a way that a beginner immediately climbs right up to the front? Good for them if it works like that.
“But I can only warn against artificial levelling. After all, the competing teams have earned their place with hard work and high investments.”
The details of the proposal were not shared but Wolff said suggestions were given to help new entrants.
“We think that certain components should be released for distribution and standardised,” he said.
“Standard parts should be considered.
“We would make our technology available or standardise it.”
