- Red Bull
Mercedes shouldn't shy from competition - Red Bull
Red Bull says Mercedes should not shy away from competition by blocking a change in regulations to allow an additional engine update next year.
F1's engine freeze
- Current rules state a certain amount of development can be undertaken on engines year-on-year, with manufacturers able to change 48% of 45 engine components at the end of the current campaign.
- But changes are only allowed to take place out of season and will be scaled down from 2015 onwards. This season engines were homologated on February 28, after which point changes were only allowed for reliability, safety or cost saving reasons.
- As a result of that homologation, Renault and Ferrari have spent much of 2014 on the back foot and unable to cut the advantage enjoyed by Mercedes power.
Under the regulations, performance upgrades on F1 power units are frozen during the season to keep costs down and updates are only allowed during the close season under a token system (see sidebar). However, the F1 Strategy Group has come up with a proposal to allow a further step of development during the season to allow the other manufacturers to catch up with the dominant Mercedes power unit.
The proposal is set to go the next level of decision making - the F1 Commission - later this year but Mercedes has made clear that it will block it when it does. Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes that in doing so Mercedes will be acting against the interests of the sport.
"It's too out of kilter when you have five Mercedes cars in the top five," he said. "The immaturity of this technology is still quite raw and Mercedes shouldn't be afraid of competition. They're doing a super job, but I think it's healthy for Formula One that Ferrari, Honda and Renault have the ability to close that gap. Otherwise we are going to end up in a very stagnant position.
"It's a bigger issue than just what is right for the teams, it's about what's right for the sport and the fans. It's easy to take a self-interest position, but when you look at what the right thing is for Formula One, it's to have competition. The rules are the rules as they are at the moment, but I think we need to be big enough to say let's open it a little bit, be responsible on costs so that there is no impact for the customer teams, but have that competition."
Horner admits Mercedes has a much better package than Red Bull under the new regulations, but takes some encouragement from the way his team has bounced back after such a disastrous start.
"Mercedes has done the best job this year. All it does is motivate you, because you know how much hard work goes into winning a championship and to win it four times in a row [as Red Bull did from 2010-2013] is an enormous achievement.
"We've had a disastrous year but we are still second [in the championship] and we are the only other team to have won a grand prix, and three of them at that. What we have managed to recover out of this season and the fact we have managed to take them this far into the year is a result in itself. I hope that, as the power units converge into next season, we should be able to give them a much bigger fight."
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