Mercedes boss Toto Wolff expects 'disjointed' Formula 1 field in 2022 with new regulations

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expects teams to be more evenly matched once Formula 1’s new regulations kick in next year. The sport has looked to make regulation changes in order to even the playing field. And Wolff, whose Mercedes team have won every world championship since 2014, expects other teams to become more competitive from 2022, when the new regulations kick in. “If you keep the rules, the field converges,” Wolff said. “For those in front, the gains get smaller and smaller, even with more effort.

“And at some point, the teams that are behind will also continue this steep form curve, and then there’s the convergence.

“If you look at qualifying today, it’s tip-top – the way I felt that was the direction we should go.

“I promise you that next year, we’ll have another situation where we’ll have a totally disjointed field. Maybe not with Mercedes in front, but certainly back to square one.”

‘We are behind Red Bull’

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton currently leads the world driver’s championship by a solitary point. However, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has proven he has the car and the skills to be a real challenger this year.

Toto Wolff himself believes that Red Bull are currently the team to beat, saying Mercedes are behind them ‘in all areas’ at present.

“We are behind Red Bull at the moment, in all areas of the car. We have to catch up first. I think the racing gods were kind to us in Bahrain, that we got the most out of the car [to win the race]. That was good in the race.

“If everything runs cleanly and everyone stays faultless [in qualifying], we are two-tenths behind Max [Verstappen] on the grid, and not in front.

“But in sport, everything always turns out differently, and Lewis really conjured up a super lap. That’s why he was in front. We’re stretching with everything we’ve got against what we think is a better Red Bull package.”