Wolff shares Red Bull wish and accuses FIA of changing F1 rules to stop Mercedes

03 September 2023 , 07:10

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Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has put pressure on F1 bosses (Image: Sky Sports)

Toto Wolff wants F1 bosses to curtail the dominance of Red Bull in the same way he believes his own Mercedes team were targeted.

After overseeing a glorious period for the Silver Arrows, which yielded seven successive drivers' titles and eight straight constructors crowns, Wolff was left seething after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021 as Max Verstappen took the title from Lewis Hamilton in controversial circumstances. And his team have subsequently floundered in the two campaigns that have followed.

Amid a new era of F1 regulations, Mercedes have undoubtedly failed to master the designs of their cars, with George Russell's win in Brazil their sole race victory in 2022. And both Russell and Hamilton have again been way off the pace set by the frontrunners this time around, with Verstappen cruising to a third straight title.

He leads team-mate Sergio Perez by 138 points in the standings. And in the constructors' table, there is a huge 205-point gap between Christian Horner's team and second placed Ferrari.

"I think we probably lost the 2021 drivers' championships for many reasons,” Wolff told reporters at Monza this weekend. “One was the final race. We also lost it because those regulations were set in place in order to reduce the advantage that we had. 2020 was a super dominant year for us. I think it was the best car we ever had.

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“Towards the end of the season they changed the regulations by cutting the floor out, and that was to stop us. You could see the results in 2021, we were not as competitive as Red Bull was, but in Silverstone we unlocked more potential of the car and got us back in the championship. But back in the day, these regs were clearly targeted to re-establish the pecking order.”

Wolff, 51, insisted he didn't want to be guilty of hypocrisy by calling for rule changes to ensure a more competitive F1 product. But despite crediting Red Bull and Verstappen for leading the 'meritocracy', he did also warn against the sport appearing predictable and mundane.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Red Bull's dominance making F1 boring? Comment below.

Max Verstappen is dominating the 2023 Championship race (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

"As long as you comply to the regulations, technical, sporting and financial, you just need to say well done," he added. "It is up to us to catch up and if that takes a long time, then it takes a long time. I remember people crying foul when it was us. Entertainment follows sport and not the other way around. We cannot be WWE, scripted content. We don't want to be scripted content."

Verstappen, 25, is aiming for a record-breaking 10th consecutive Grand Prix victory in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. But he'll start second on the grid, having been pipped to pole by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

Wolff's drivers will start fourth and eighth respectively, with Russell out-performing Hamilton in qualifying. Charles Leclerc will stand between Verstappen and Russell in third place.

Fraser Watson