© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff says Mercedes needed the 2022 rule change “to be able to set new goals” and “prove across the changes that you can’t slow us down”.
Formula 1 will be introducing massive rule changes in 2022 that seem to be a direct response to Mercedes’ unprecedented dominance over the sport.
The team has won all drivers’ and constructors’ championships since the turbo hybrid era began in 2014. Toto Wolff says the rule changes will help motivate Mercedes even further.
“It is difficult to motivate a team that has had so much success to be even better every year,” the Austrian told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“You can see that in other sports as well. You always have to ask yourself what the new goal is.
“The next rule change…it helps enormously. We want to prove across the changes that you can’t slow us down.
“We’ve managed since 2014 to keep competing for and winning titles in 2017 and 2019 despite all the rule changes.
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“Even for this year, there was another [regulations] change with the aim of changing the order of the standings.
“They cost us a lot of performance in absolute terms and especially relative to other teams. We lost about five or even more tenths of a second per lap.
“That’s a fact. I understand that the rights holder of Formula One always has an interest in offering a championship that is as competitive as possible.
“It’s not good for anyone that the same team with the same driver dominates for years. Formula 1, like any top sport, needs variability and unpredictability.
“It would be best if the World Championship was decided by a one-point difference in the last race. We take this attempt to slow us down sportingly. We now have to make the best of it.
“In a way, we needed it to be able to set new goals,” concluded Wolff.
