© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
During the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend Fernando Alonso took his 2005 title-winning Renault R25 for a spin around the Yas Marina Circuit.
In reaction to how the car looked and sounded on TV, many viewers said it is more appealing than current F1 cars. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff agrees.
“I think, first of all, the car, on one side, is a relic of the past when reducing CO2 emissions wasn’t on the cards and electric mobility didn’t exist,” said the Austrian.
“I think we just moved into a new era and that also means making compromises, but I agree that the car looked spectacular.
“It was very agile, very small, 150 kilograms lighter, a screaming engine and we can see that although the car was going four, five seconds slower than us [current cars], when you look at the TV pictures it seemed like it was going much faster.
“So there is something to learn. I believe that there is always something to learn.”
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The Abu Dhabi race itself wasn’t very exciting and was considered by many to be “boring”, which made Alonso’s run stand out even more.
“The number of messages I got during the race with the sleeping emoji was the most ever,” added Wolff.
“I don’t think anybody from Formula 1 regrets having had the car [the R25] out there because we need to analyse, now that we’ve seen it live, what is so attractive.
“Is it the audio-visual experience that makes it attractive? But then I saw the pictures without the sound and it still looked great so why is that? I think we need to analyse that.
“We are stakeholders in the sport and we need to improve everywhere but I think that all of us including F1 and the local guys, will look at it and say ‘What can we do?’ and sometimes you need a race like this to move and make the next step and develop it.
“I am sure that races here can be very exciting if we choose the right track layout and I wouldn’t want to miss Abu Dhabi from the calendar.
“It’s just a fantastic place and one of the best attractions for guests when we have hospitality here, and it’s adding to the calendar, it’s glamorous.
“We just need to give it more spectacular racing,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
