Both Ferrari and Mercedes have ruled out calling for a change to the Formula 1 technical regulations amid concerns over Red Bull’s continued dominance into 2024.
Red Bull has thrashed the competition since F1 returned to ground effect cars in 2022, scoring 39 wins from the previous 44 races ahead of the current campaign.
The Austrian outfit has begun the latest season with its sizeable advantage intact, recording consecutive 1-2 finishes to be on course to replicate last term’s success.
Red Bull remaining unopposed this season has heightened concerns that the team will be unbeaten until the next wholesale regulation change scheduled for 2026.
But Toto Wolff has denied that rivals should angle for the rules to be tweaked in the same manner Red Bull’s Christian Horner did during Mercedes’ pre-eminent period.
The Mercedes Team Principal believes that F1 constitutes an “honest sport” and that it would be wrong to punish Red Bull for other teams’ persistent shortcomings.
“I don’t want to fall in the trap of my fellow team principal from next door who said in 2014 and 2015 that we should change the regulations because it is too dominant,” Wolff said.
“I think they [Red Bull] have done by far the best job of all the teams over the last two years, and credit where credit is due.
“They are literally disappearing in the distance as they want and no one else is close. They had Ferrari and [Charles] Leclerc a little bit, and if [Carlos] Sainz had been here they would have been second best on the road. But there is not this huge performance differential to everyone that follows depending on the track, they are just in a different league.
“Our sport is an honest sport and the best performance is being rewarded from car, machine and man.”
Ferrari has taken up the mantle of being Red Bull’s closest contender in the opening stages of the season with its revamped car, landing successive podium finishes.
Despite Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur insisting it has halved the deficit to Red Bull, Leclerc was classified 18.6s behind Max Verstappen in Saudi Arabia.
However, like Mercedes, Vasseur insists that Ferrari’s sole focus is on continuing to bridge the gap to the reigning champions rather than pester the sport’s rule makers.
Asked whether Red Bull’s continuous winning could harm F1, Vasseur replied: “Yeah, but if we are able to have the same improvement as we had last year, it’s encouraging.
“And honestly, I’m focused on the team, I’m focused on the fact that we have to develop the car and even if one weekend we are in front of Red Bull, I will keep the same approach, try to do a better job the week after, you know, that it’s not because that we are P1, P2, P3 that you have to stop or to develop more, that we are full push and we will continue with the same approach.
“I can’t say that it’s…out of my scope, but the fact that it’s interesting or not, that we are just fully focused on the fact that we have to catch up, that it’s clear that they have an advantage, and I don’t want to bulls**t someone, or bulls**t I’m not allowed, that I will go to the Stewards next week.
“But it’s clear that they have still an advantage on us and that we have to continue to develop and to push, but I think it’s a clear step forward today.
“It was already a good signal last week in Bahrain. It’s a clear step forward today and it’s very encouraging for everybody and it’s the best way to get everybody fully motivated.”
