© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says it’s “possible that teams who hadn’t competed for the world championship this year” will get in the fight in 2022.
Formula 1 has introduced several new rules and concepts aimed at making more teams capable of fighting for the championship in 2022 and beyond.
Not only is there a budget cap that levels the playing field, but there is also an aerodynamic testing system that allows more wind tunnel and CFD time for teams that finished lower in the championship standings.
Taking into account the fact that those teams could afford to focus on their new 2022 cars earlier than the teams fighting for the championship, Toto Wolff thinks there will be more challengers at the top of the field next year.
“We are all operating under the same financial cap and the concepts are very new,” the Austrian said.
“Then what was introduced is the aerodynamic regulations, where teams based on their standing in the championship had a little bit more allowance.
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“So it’s pretty much possible that teams who hadn’t competed for the world championship this year, whether it’s Ferrari, McLaren or Aston Martin or Alpine are capable of coming up with the intelligent concepts based on much more runs than everybody else and just doing it very right.
“I think we need to expect much closer fighting for championships and races than we had before, and that’s exciting.”
Wolff especially thinks Ferrari is likely to be a serious threat.
“We absolutely have to [assume] they will be in the mix next year, because they’ve had more aerodynamic development scope because they had a bad season last year.
“They are a great entity, they have all the resources that are needed and, therefore, we absolutely have them on the radar.
“Not only Ferrari, there’s a few other teams which can do really well next year,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
