Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has made it clear that the German manufacturer will not support a change to the regulations which could allow in-season development of the power unit.
The teams voted on the matter during the Russian Grand Prix weekend with two of the three engine suppliers voting yes. Mercedes went against Ferrari and Renault as Wolff reckons it would be unfair to change the rules just because they don’t suit someone.
“We have already voted against it in the Strategy Group and I don’t think we will change our mind in the next month or whenever the meeting will take place,” said Wolff in reference to an F1 Commission vote on the matter.
“We have rules and we have governance, and the governance is in place in order to avoid quick, knee-jerk decisions being made that upset stability, upset the commercial setup and I strongly believe you cannot change rules in October for the following year just because you think they don’t suit you.”
Wolff however is more open to a change for 2016, once the impact has been thoroughly researched.
“For 2016 we are going through an ordinary process, we are going to have a look at it again and then decide whether it is the right thing to do.
“We’ve looked at it because we wanted to take up the challenge and say ‘okay, somebody wants to do in-season development, what’s the in-season development? Let’s take the challenge up’. But what does it mean as a consequence for the series itself? What does it mean commercially? How much does it cost? I think as a serious business you have to explore these costs and not just say ‘why don’t we do it?’ So we need to explore those costs and also you need to look at what it means logistically.”
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