© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Formula 1 needs to avoid making a mistake it made “11 years ago” when it comes to power units.
With Honda announcing its departure from Formula 1 after 2021, only three engine manufacturers will be left in the sport in 2022: Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes.
Red Bull is looking at an option of developing Honda’s power unit themselves post 2021, but only if an engine development freeze is instituted. Toto Wolff was never opposed to this idea.
“We have a position that we have always supported the 2022 engine freeze, and bringing forward the 2026 regulations into 2025,” said Wolff.
“I think it’s important to design a power unit that considers where the world goes, having more electrical propulsion.
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“It is certainly something interesting that needs to be done within a cost business case that is sustainable for Formula 1, and also from a financial side. I don’t know how much cheaper a new engine would be. We need to look at it twice.
“We don’t want to do the mistake of 11 years ago where we said ‘Let’s call in the engineers to come up with a concept’, and we came up with a fantastic, very efficient power unit that is very complex where the cost of development is still very high.
“I think we need to reduce the costs for the OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] that are engaged in the sport, and that is the highest priority.
“Moving from there into the technical decisions and what we can do in order to have a relevant power unit for considering the fantastic knowledge moving out there on road cars,” concluded Wolff.
