15/03/2015
NEWS STORY
Other than Renault's failure to raise its game, Christian Horner claims that Mercedes' domination is a turn-off for fans.
Though the Austrian team wasn't expecting to take the fight to Mercedes today, it clearly expected better than to see one car fail to make it to the start and the other finish a distant sixth, and even then courtesy of a performance that owed more to the driver than the package given him.
Clearly frustrated, Christian Horner wasted no time in pointing the finger.
"It's been a very tough weekend for Renault," he told reporters. However, before anyone might get the impression that he was about to lavish sympathy on the French manufacturer with which his team has enjoyed so much success, he quickly added. "The engine is just quite undriveable. You can see and hear that from the comments the drivers are making, you're not able to drive the car properly.
"It's frustrating that we're effectively even further back than we were in Abu Dhabi in both power and driveability," he continued. "Ferrari has made a good step. Renault, at this stage, appear to have made a retrograde step.
"It's important that we re-group with Renault and try and offer our support where we can," he added, "because they're obviously in a bit of a mess at the moment."
However, Renault wasn't the only manufacturer in the Briton's line of fire, following a dominant performance from Mercedes Horner believes the German team's obvious superiority will damage the sport. In an outburst that brought the words 'toys' and ‘pram' to mind he even hinted at conspiracies… surely the ultimate recourse for the desperate team principal.
"When we were winning, and we were never winning with an advantage that Mercedes has, double diffusers were banned, exhausts were moved, flexible bodywork was banned, engine mapping was changed mid-season, anything was done to pull us back," he said. "That was not just us, it was done to McLaren and Williams in other years.
"Is it healthy to have a situation like this?" he continued. "The FIA, within the rules, have an equalisation mechanism and that needs to be looked at," he demanded.
"I take nothing from Mercedes, they have done a super job. They have a good car, a fantastic engine and two very good drivers. The problem is however, that the gap is so big that you end up with three-tier racing and that is not healthy for F1.
"I fear the interest will wane," he warned. "I didn't see much of Mercedes on the television and I can only imagine that it isn't interesting watching a procession so the producer was looking for other battles going on in the race, except there weren't that many cars to look at. The highlight for me was Arnie Schwarzenegger on the podium."
Check out our Sunday gallery, here.