Toto Wolff rejects ‘boring season’ fears as Mercedes sets early pace

Toto Wolff has dismissed claims that this year’s championship could soon become boring because of Mercedes’ dominance, with the team 1-2 in both early-season races.

Mercedes arrived at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as the pre-season favourites, a tag George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have lived up to.

Toto Wolff dismisses boring season fears amid Mercedes dominance

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This season, Formula 1 introduced a new engine formula, bringing to mind the last time the sport introduced a new engine formula and Mercedes’ subsequent seven-year run of championship doubles.

That, coupled with reports that the team had found a loophole in the engine regulations that allowed it to increase the power unit’s compression ratio from 16:1 to 18:1, while still passing the FIA tests, led to concerns among rival manufacturers.

Justified concerns based on the opening two race weekends.

Mercedes has finished first and second in both grands prix, Russell and Antonelli trading positions, while the Briton also won the Sprint in China.

That has given him a four-point lead over Antonelli in the Drivers’ standings, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 13 points down on the Italian. The Brackley squad already has a 31-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

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It raised the question: could Mercedes’ dominance lead to a boring season?

“The first two races paint a completely different picture,” Wolff insisted to OE24. “I’m not worried that it could get boring.

“We have good pace, but so does Ferrari. McLaren will come and the others will also learn the topic of engine management quickly.

“We see extremely exciting and spectacular racing not only at the front between us and Ferrari, but also in the midfield with the most overtaking manoeuvres.

“What we can perhaps still work on is the qualifying format, where we should go back a bit with the energy management. This is being worked on.”

Ferrari has battled Mercedes in all three events to date, going wheel-to-wheel with the Brackley squad’s drivers in some thrilling action. However, once Mercedes is outside of overtake mode range (one second), Ferrari has fallen back to finish 25 seconds down in Australia and 15 off the pace in China.

With the drivers relying on their batteries this season, with that making up 50 percent of the car’s power, Formula 1’s new look has been met with mixed reviews. Mercedes and Ferrari are loving it. Those further down the order, such as Max Verstappen, are not.

“It’s not everyone who is upset, but some drivers who have problems with the complex e-management,” said Wolff. “But the main target group is the fans, and over 90 percent of them think that we now have entertaining racing: entertaining and exciting.

“You have to change again and again in sport. You should respect both: the opinion of the traditionalists, who would like to see the sport as it used to be, and that of the new fans, who say: “We actually like it the way it is now, and it should stay that way.”

“We need to evaluate what’s best for F1 and its fans. At the moment, we see a clear line.”

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