Toto Wolff has called on F1's powers-that-be to consider holding back on introducing major rule changes next year.

As the raft of new rules aimed at making the sport faster and more exciting look like finally being agreed, Wolff has urged the sport to consider stalling the move, claiming that at a time the sport is entertaining the fans a new formula might turn them off again.

"We are having an ideal situation with great racing and three great races in a row now," said the Austrian. "Are we capable of reacting quickly enough and acknowledging that and reverting to regulations which seem to be OK now? I don't know.

"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," he insisted. "The gains we are making are smaller because the curve flattens out and the others are making bigger steps."

Indeed, just as Mercedes mastered the new formula, introduced in 2014, from the outset, Wolff believes the 2017 changes could see one team come out on top leading to several more years of the sort of domination that has turned off fans.

"Somebody else, or us, is 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 which you won't see just on pure lap time, and less overtaking because the wake is much more extreme," he warned. "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."

Whilst one can see the logic in what he is saying, following those "three great races" Mercedes enjoys a 53 point lead and nothing we have seen thus far suggests that dominance is under serious, maintained threat.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by gturner38, 21/04/2016 4:02

"I find it funny when people complain about the current cars being slow. If you took Michael Schumacher's pole lap from 2004 and showed it back to back with Rosberg's 2016 pole lap, I doubt anyone watching them without a stop watch would be able to tell the difference in speed. The end result of the new regulations is that the cars will be quicker, but the only reason people will notice is because they will be constantly reminded of it, but the racing will go from being really good (apart from fights for the lead) to being a parade.

As far as power goes, when these power units are putting out their full electrical power, they are more powerful than the V8s they replaced and aren't that far off the 1000 HP they've been talking about moving towards. If anything, they need more freedom to produce electric power since WEC is now running on less fuel and producing over 1200 HP. Last year at Le Mans, the winning car did the equivalent of 17 grands prix on roughly 1400 kg of fuel. "

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Stitch431, 20/04/2016 18:00

"I believe I have a solution here that will please both the environmentalists as well as those in favour of "a lot of sound" as in Eindhoven scientists have developed an engine that runs on chemically fabricated formic acid, which at will can be turned into hydrogen, which can be used in loud V8's, V10's or whatsoever.

See this link: https://www.tue.nl/en/university/news-and-press/news/14-01-2016-team-fast-presents-scale-model-of-car-powered-by-formic-acid/

This system is even more „green“ than electric/hybrid motors as it produces no damaging waste products whatsoever. It is also much cheaper to fabricate, which I believe is a feature all are looking for, and it can be run using the good old fuel infrastructure! There is no need to carry the fuel under pressure and no one gets electrocuted or burned as the system is fire safe!"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Spindoctor, 20/04/2016 10:29

"Wolff is pretty-much on the money. A stable set of technical rules always enables the 'slow' teams to catch up; constant dicking about with them makes the whole thing a lottery, with no guarantee that the 'spectacle' will be improved. Indeed numerous rapid changes largely ensure that single teams enjoy periods of dominance.

I find the constant criticism of the current Hybrid PUs as the source of all F1's woes both irritating and stunningly lacking in rigour. I'll concede that they sound pretty dull compared to V12\10\8 s of yore, but I hope there's a bit more to F1 than a lot of sound & fury signifying nothing.....
Today's F1 cars are 'slower' than those of some previous eras for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that the Formula is now severely fuel-limited and the I/C bit of the PU is now 1.6litres not 2.4, or 3.0 as in the previous iteration. Despite this the cars are nearly as fast over the ground, despite being heavier, and using ludicrously poor tyres; designed primarily to wear out, not perform. That's about the rules, not the technology.

"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by nonickname, 20/04/2016 6:41

"Hi scf1fan,
you just underlined my view..thank you very much. Say what you like F1 has gone backward by 7 seconds in 12 years. The team size has gone form 3/400 to 1500! "

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by mike, 20/04/2016 2:40

"Its not the racing moron! Its the slow, gas saving, worst sounding race car's in the world! WOW"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Canuck, 19/04/2016 17:59

"If you really want to watch raw speed - the average speed of the pole position at the Indy 500 2015 was 365 KPH. But in reality what will 3 or 5 or 7 seconds a lap give the fans if the cars cannot follow to overtake. If you want to see cars follow each other at high speed - go stand beside the train track of the TGV in France. When I watch F1 I want to see skilled drivers driving cars at the cars limit with the ability to overtake. I do not want to see pit stop competitions where a pass is done by having a 1 second faster pit stop than the opposition. Racing is on a track by men driving fast cars and exploiting their opponents moment of weakness. Racing is not CFD numbers in an office, racing is not wind tunnel, racing is not how much downforce you can create to disturb the opponent following you.

Constant rule changes only give those wealthy teams the opportunity to spend more therefore gaining the advantage over the less wealthy and reduce the low budget teams to the back. So I agree with Toto Wolf in this case. Reduce the front wing, reduce the downforce, reduce the wake behind the car, increase mechanical grip and lets go RACING on a TRACK not in a bubble."

Rating: Positive (5) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by scf1fan, 19/04/2016 14:23

"@nonickname . . . Interesting argument, but it falls way short. 2004 - Gumball tires, (tire war) refueling, lighter chassis, much lighter in race trim (ttbomk) = Fastest race lap @ almost 2 seconds faster than pole lap. (Less weight = more speed. Though some people find the risk of pit fires more interesting, I am not one of them!) Difference in pole lap . . . a bit more than 1 second. (Oh yeah, and the PU technology is MUCH more advanced these days. ;-)
.
I'm glad MotoGP has such a fan as you; but if you want straight line speed, there is this place call the Bonneville salt flats . . . perhaps you have heard of it?"

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by jackois, 19/04/2016 12:13

"I'd like to see how it would have panned out at the weekend had the red flag not been thrown. What was wrong with virtual safety car and waved double yellows?

The red flag rescued Vettel after he's caused most of the mayhem... however much he bleated on about the mayhem not being his fault.

I like the 'no coaching' via radio though."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

9. Posted by nonickname, 19/04/2016 11:02

"Crying wolf again. As per David Coultard on Sunday the fastest lap was 7 SECONDS slower than Schumacher in 2004. All the bla,bla,bla and we are going slower at the 'pinnacle' of motorsport. In fact the MotoGP bikes are as fast in a straight line as any of the current F1 cars..F1 can really be proud of it's progress bought about by the idiots running it."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

10. Posted by scf1fan, 19/04/2016 10:51

"Let's see . . . First three races, at least one (ahem one!) top contender is pushed back into the field, and then some level of mayhem ensues as the field straightens itself out again. Entertaining? Certainly. But I don't think you would want to count on that being the saving grace. More often than not, no matter how the rules are tweaked (short of some form of inverting the qualification . . . and then we'll see who sandbags . . . ) F1 races will always be more strategy than swagger.
.
The rules need to concentrate on insuring a fair level of achievable competition, not some false sense of drama.
"

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

11. Posted by Ro, 19/04/2016 9:26

"Totally agree, "If it aint broke dont fix it !""

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Wolff urges sport to hold off on rule changes

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page