Wolff on Mercedes’ W13 legality: ‘I think we’ll be ok’

Mark Scott
Toto Wolff answers questions on the Mercedes W13. Bahrain March 2022

Team boss Toto Wolff answers questions on the Mercedes W13. Bahrain March 2022

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is reasonably confident that the sidepod-less W13 is here to stay amid the inevitable questions about its legality.

The Silver Arrows turned heads on the opening day of testing in Bahrain, unveiling a radical and revolutionary car which featured non-existent sidepods in a new, very tightly-packed bodywork structure.

Not too long after casting our first glance at the Silver Arrows machine, the reaction started to come in with Red Bull boss Christian Horner not particularly happy about what he was seeing on the W13 – even if himself and Red Bull have tried to distance themselves from the quotes.

The current structure under the FIA when it comes to new innovations is that it could be outlawed if a ‘super majority’ – or more specifically eight teams – vote against the new design or part in question.

But Wolff is not concerned about that potential prospect.

“It’s clear that sometimes when you come with an innovation, it creates the kind of debate that we are having here,” Wolff told reporters during a press conference in Bahrain.

“That’s why that was expected.

“We have the new governance with the super majority that’s needed.

“My opinion is that I would have preferred to stay with the old system and if a team comes up with an innovation, possibly you can’t take it off the car if it’s compliant with the regulations.

“I think the FIA and Formula 1 will for sure handle that with diligence, in the spirit of the sport. We were keen in not running alone with that, but being in touch with the FIA, that’s why I think it will be okay.”

On the FIA potentially intervening, Wolff elaborated on that and maintains that same level of confidence in thinking that any protests would be futile.

“The process is really clear, when you go in a specific development direction with your team, having the FIA part of scrutinising it, you are exchanging CAD data and making them part of the process,” Wolff stated.

“The car, we are really proud of what we have achieved in terms of concept, but now we need to make it go fast.

“It’s a development direction that we like. It’s about tuning the car. We’re experimenting a lot and approaching it with curiosity.”

While Horner was more irked about the innovative W13 car, World Champion Max Verstappen was typically unmoved by what he saw on the Mercedes.

Mercedes stun paddock with no sidepod W13

Mercedes have stunned the Formula One paddock with their W13 having no sidepods.