Recently, Alpine’s F1 team pitched an idea to the FIA about having similar engines for all the existing teams in the sport. All stakeholders of the sport sat with the teams and a solution was put forward. However, Toto Wolff now claims that equaling the engines for all outfits would mark the beginning of the end of F1’s $18,600,000,000 empire.
The FIA after discussions with all the teams has proposed to find a solution for the Renault-backed team. They will work on finding a level playing ground for all the teams developing engines. Reports suggest that Alpine has a deficit of about 30 horsepower against the likes of Honda, Mercedes, or Ferrari. This lack of power unit performance directly prevents them from competing at the front.
Interestingly, Red Bull and their team principal Christian Horner is also giving the green light for this move to go ahead. Horner, known to credit himself for things, agreed to have equal engines for all for a level playing field. But for Wolff, this is the start of a mega catastrophe which can lead to F1’s downfall.
Toto Wolff is strictly against engine equalization
For any F1 rival, having their competitors on equal terms is not a good sign. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss feels the same when it comes to engine development. He went as far as suggesting that topics of levelling the playing field when it comes to power units, should not even be brought up.
Speaking about this, the billionaire boss stated as per The Race, “Touching any kind of fuel flow, or BoP is a catastrophe and bankruptcy declaration for F1. It should never be talked about.”
However, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur is entirely against his Mercedes counterpart. He is open to the idea of giving the weaker teams a lending hand, so that they can up the competition in the sport.
Vasseur joined Horner to allow Renault to catch up
Like Horner, Vasseur too wants the fellow F1 teams to step up. The Ferrari team principal even spoke about giving the teams an extra allocation. This is to make sure that they become more competitive, and make the sport more interesting.
Admittedly, the Frenchman put forward an idea of allowing teams like Renault to have a slightly higher rate than the current mass flow limit of 100 kg/h. This would open up a bit more performance. Consequently, the horsepower deficit that the French team keeps complaining about, could be a thing of the past.
However, Vasseur also spoke up about not giving them an advantage while allowing them to catch up. There have been no concrete reports of F1 finalizing this. However, if allowed, this could lead to a lot of changes in F1, and also cause potential clashes between several figures in the sport.
