For the last 2 years, we have seen Red Bull dominate the sport. After just 2 races into the 2024 season, it seems as though their domination will continue this year as well. Despite their domination, Mercedes’ team boss, Toto Wolff says he does not want to pressure the FIA for a regulation change to slow down the Austrian outfits.
Last year, Max Verstappen and Red Bull had the most dominating season in F1 history. There is no doubt that they are the best team at the moment. Judging by the gap between Max and the rest of the teams, it will take a while for anyone to dethrone Max and Red Bull. Recently,
Toto Wolff doesn’t want regulation changes to slow down Red Bull
With Red Bull disappearing in the distance, Mercedes will have to do something to catch up with the team. Toto Wolff was asked if he would suggest a regulation change to the FIA to slow Red Bull down.
“I don’t want to fall in the trap of a fellow team principal from next door in 2014/15 who said we should change the regs because it’s too dominant,” said Wolff. He went on to credit Red Bull for what they have achieved in the last 2 years.
“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. I mean, they are literally disappearing in the distance as they want and there’s nobody else close.
“It’s just that they are in a different league. And our sport is an honest sport. The best performance is being rewarded from car, from machine and man.”
Fighting talk from Toto Wolff! 🥊#Mercedes #F1 pic.twitter.com/EI1vge7sGO
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) March 11, 2024
When a driver or team dominates the way Max and Red Bull are doing now, some fans tend to lose interest in the sport. The results become predictable for each race and the Championship. This season, it looks likely that Max will become a 2-time Champion. However, Toto Wolff thinks a regulation change is not the answer to this problem.
While regulation change is already in the works for the 2026 season, the other teams will simply have to do a better job in developing the car. Otherwise, Red Bull will continue to stay on top.
What did Christian Horner have to say about Mercedes’ domination in 2015?
For the past 15 years, Red Bull and Mercedes have been the only teams capable of winning Championships. We witnessed Sebastian Vettel dominate the sport from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, F1 entered the turbo-hybrid era which was dominated by Mercedes. During that year, the Silver Arrows won all but 2 races. Their performance was similar to what we are witnessing now with Red Bull.
When Mercedes were dominating the grid, Christian Horner was naturally not too happy. Back then he said:
“Mercedes have done a super job,” said Horner back then. “They have a good car, a fantastic engine and they have two very good drivers.
“The problem is that the gap is so big that you end up with three-tier racing. That is not healthy for F1.
“They [the FIA] have a power output so they can see what every power unit is producing. They have the facts, they could quite easily come up with a way of some form of equalisation.”
Although Horner appreciated Mercedes for building a strong car, he felt the FIA should introduce some new regulation changes to slow the team down. The regulation change that was introduced in 2014 was more focused on the power unit. In an attempt to become more sustainable, the FIA introduced Turbo-Hybrid engines which powered the car using a V6 turbocharged engine and an electrical unit which drew energy from the heat and kinetic energy that is produced while braking.
In 2017, the FIA did implement a regulation change. However, Mercedes remained on top even after this change. It was only in 2021 that Red Bull started to catch up with the German manufacturers.
Rohit Kumar 
Sara Chavan