“I don’t think we’ll make it, especially Lewis.” It is the answer that Toto Wolff gives after a question about the possibility of forgetting the disappointment of losing the 2021 title.
The wound is still open, despite the fact that almost two months have passed since the night at Yas Marina, but it is also true that in a few weeks Formula 1 will roll again in the Barcelona tests.
The silence that followed Sunday’s victory in Abu Dhabi does not seem to have cured Wolff ‘s disappointment, and confirmation came through the words he spoke in an interview published by the German outlet AMuS .
“Lewis, the whole team and myself are disappointed,” confirmed the Austrian. “We love this sport because it has always been very clear, the clock never lies. But if we break the fundamental principle of fairness and the clock becomes irrelevant, then the doubts arise, and you think of all the work and all the sacrifices that have been done, which they then take away from you”.
“It’s going to take us a long time to digest this, I don’t think we’ll be able to do it, especially Lewis, but at least together with the FIA we can try to do better in the future,” the Mercedes boss said.
Wolff sent messages to the highest body of motorsport, and highlighted several points: “I expect actions, not just words. We are a sport, we cannot go it alone, there are rules. Before the start of the new season there must be clarity, so that each driver , every team and every fan knows what is allowed and what is not. We are a form of entertainment, but no decision in favor of the show should break the rules.”
Engine problems for the first time in years
The fight for the world championship against Red Bull and Verstappen reaffirmed Mercedes’ great ability to react, an aspect that, beyond the disappointment in Abu Dhabi, could be seen in Wolff’s words.
“The positive aspect was the way we managed to make up ground, as after the disqualification in Brazil I thought the drivers’ championship was lost. In Austin we didn’t understand some things about the handling of the car which, once we investigated, allowed us to give a big step forward. Our set-up was better from then on, and we had less tire wear, and that was reflected in the race results.”
“We have not lost the championship because of the power unit, although it is true that we have had problems for the first time in eight years. At first it was just a component linked to a batch that had problems during production, then a kind of outbreak and the engines lost power.
F1 2022 will be even
With 2022 in sight, Wolff didn’t seem too concerned about the possibility that a team had better interpreted the new technical rules: “If someone finds a loophole in the regulations, the teams will go in that direction. I hope to see similar cars, more From what you think, there may be some differences this season, but in the end it will be balanced. There will no longer be a team that is a second ahead of everyone, the budget limit I don’t think will make it possible.”
On the budget cap, the boss of the Germans does not seem to side with those who do not like the spending restrictions introduced by the FIA at the beginning of 2021.
“The teams that had the biggest budgets were not happy about losing that advantage, but I think the situation had caused an arms race between Red Bull, Ferrari and us. Now everything is more balanced, I think there are five or six teams that can think realistically and that they can win in the future, and that’s good for the sport. The one who wins the Super Bowl is not always the same,” he concluded.
