Toto Wolff dismisses engine politics after surprise Red Bull verdict

Toto Wolff assured there is “no political background” or “favours” in Additional Upgrade Development Opportunities [ADUO] rules, with Mercedes adjudged to sit behind Red Bull’s engine in early measurements.

The FIA’s findings have placed the Red Bull Powertrains’ internal combustion engine as the benchmark in the paddock so far, with PlanetF1.com understanding Mercedes is set to benefit from at least one additional upgrade opportunity as a result.

Toto Wolff responds to FIA ADUO engine assessment

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An FIA document has shown that Mercedes, Audi, Honda and Ferrari could all be set to benefit from additional upgrades and, while Red Bull figures have acknowledged the DM01 is a strong power unit, there has been surprise at it being the outright best – with Mercedes widely thought within the paddock to hold the benchmark.

Mercedes has had a flying start to Formula 1’s new era, with every race so far having been won by either Kimi Antonelli or George Russell as the team establishes itself at the top of the tree.

Asked about the surprise at RBPT being highlighted as the standout at this early stage, Wolff said the results will have been measured by the FIA, the raw numbers will speak for themselves.

Alongside that, he joked that Alpine boss Flavio Briatore had been on the phone to wonder why his customer power units were not the best.

The Mercedes team principal and CEO issued a reminder, though, that these initial findings do not represent a “frozen situation”, with more findings to be taken later in the season.

“In my opinion, when you speak to Nikolas [Tombazis], it’s data they have measured and collected,” Wolff replied to PlanetF1.com and other media.

“There is no political background, there is no favours, but it’s the outcome of their analysis of their torque sensors and the way it’s being done, and that is the result.

“I had Flavio [Briatore] calling me and saying the deal was that he’s buying the strongest engine, and found out that it’s not the strongest engine. So, what can I say?

“A new homologation is definitely something that is helpful, because if you don’t get that, there is quite a possibility of being leapfrogged by somebody else who is able to do this.

“We shall see how this pans out over the next time, because we must not forget this is not a frozen situation, but it’s going to be looked at every couple of every few races, and then being judged upon.

“I think it [ADUO] was a protection mechanism, how it was intended to be to avoid the 2014 situation that one engine manufacturer was having such an advantage and was running away, with engine [power], with testing mileage and race results.

“We were on the good end of that, but this is what we wanted to avoid, especially newcomers coming in, like Audi, and to a certain degree, Honda with Aston Martin, Red Bull [Powertrains], of course.

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“That’s what it is, and that’s how it should be, and now we can say, does it need an engine adjustment, as it is in aero? I get a rush of allergy when talking about BoP.

“This is something that we should stay far away from Formula 1. It’s a political mess in all the other series.

“It makes manufacturers go out of the sport also, and I’ve been very close to that, as you can imagine, in DTM, in GTs, in Le Mans, and we should never be tempted to have someone agree on how the balance of performance should fall out.

“If there is a mechanism that consists of finetuning in order to make sure that nobody’s embarrassed on the power unit side, I think that’s the right way to go, because when you look at aerodynamics, that was invented for a completely different situation.”

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