Toto Wolff, centre, believes Formula One will be more competitive if the rule changes, planned for next season, are reversed. Photograph: David Davies/PA
Toto Wolff has told Formula One chiefs to step back from making the fundamental changes to the sport planned for 2017.
Those changes must be agreed before the end of the month and the details will be chewed over at imminent meetings. But after an intriguing, highly entertaining Chinese Grand Prix, Mercedes’ head of motorsport said it would be much better to leave well alone.
Asked why the rules are going to be significantly changed, Wolff took some time before replying with a shrug: “I don’t know. We are having an ideal situation with great racing and three great races in a row now. Are we capable of reacting quickly enough and acknowledging that and reverting to regulations which seem to be OK now? I don’t know.”
When F1 changed the qualifying rules at the start of the season it proved to be a disaster and old-style qualifying returned at Shanghai to everyone’s relief. Now F1 could be heading for more changes that will not work. It has been a memorable start to the season. The Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday was even better than the season-opener in Melbourne, while the second race in Bahrain was decent enough.
The plan for 2017 is to make cars three seconds a lap faster by increasing aero and mechanical grip. The thrust is for wider tyres and wings, and a bigger diffuser. There will be more downforce but that is expected to make overtaking more difficult, and will come into conflict with the work done by the Overtaking Working Group.
Wolff said: “Even if it is uncomfortable for the commercial rights holder that Mercedes have been running away with lots of the races and two championships, the longer you keep the regulations stable the more the performance is going to converge between everybody, and this is what is happening now. The gains we are making are smaller because the curve flattens out and the others are making bigger steps.”
Wolff has a point. Ferrari, despite enduring three frustrating races, appear to be faster and more competitive, while Red Bull are getting stronger by the race. Mercedes still lead the field but it is getting tighter, while the new tyre rules have added another variable to the mix. Despite all the gloomy words from F1’s chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone, before the start of the season, it has been a good show so far.
Wolff’s warning is that another change now will create “another Mercedes” with one team – possibly them – making a better fist of the job than anyone else, and running away with the title.
He added: “Somebody else, or us, are going to run away with the championship next year because it is new regulations and everything starts from the beginning. There will be more downforce and less overtaking.
“There is nothing to be sold on that. There is no selling proposition within the regulations in my opinion. We should just leave it alone. We don’t have the advantage we had last year but the racing is great and it will become even greater if we leave the regulations alone.”
Formula One can never leave anything alone. But the current system, using hybrid V6 engines, is in its third year and could be finally delivering, though there are still fundamental problems to address concerning the sport’s finances and governance.