Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, is cautious not to repeat the same missteps as his counterpart Christian Horner from Red Bull amid their F1 dominance.
Wolff emphasizes his determination to sidestep the “trap” Horner fell into during Mercedes’ era of supremacy from 2014 to 2020. Back then, Horner consistently urged the FIA to intervene by tweaking the regulations to level the playing field against the dominant Silver Arrows.
With the inception of new regulations in 2022, Red Bull has surged ahead to clinch consecutive world championship doubles, with Max Verstappen securing three consecutive drivers’ world titles.
Red Bull’s early dominance this season, marked by comfortable 1-2 finishes in the opening two rounds, indicates a strong likelihood of more F1 championship triumphs in 2024.
During this period, Mercedes has managed to win just one Grand Prix, while Ferrari, often Red Bull’s closest rival, has only secured victory five times.
Despite facing a challenging start to the campaign, Wolff remains steadfast in his refusal to resort to the political maneuvers employed by Horner.
Wolff makes a pointed remark aimed at Horner, stating, “I don’t want to fall into the trap of a fellow team principal from next door in 2014/15 who said we should change the regs because it’s too dominant.”
“I think they [Red Bull] have done by far the best job of all the teams over the last two years, and credit where credit is due. I mean, they are literally disappearing in the distance as they want and there’s nobody else close.
“It’s just that they are in a different league. And our sport is an honest sport. The best performance is being rewarded by car, from machine and man.”
In 2015, following a full season of Mercedes’ dominance, Horner remarked: “Mercedes have done a super job. They have a good car, a fantastic engine and they have two very good drivers.
“The problem is that the gap is so big that you end up with three-tier racing. That is not healthy for F1.
“They [the FIA] have a power output so they can see what every power unit is producing. They have the facts. They could quite easily come up with a way of some form of equalisation.”
