Executive Director of Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Toto Wolff feels that Formula 1 will go back to square one when the new 2017 regulations are put in place.
After winning their third consecutive Constructors Championship in Japan, Wolff concedes that the team will have to start from scratch in order to compete at the top level.
Mercedes have dominated Formula 1 for best three seasons but a change in the regulations could change the pecking order with next year’s regulations focusing on the aerodynamics rather than the power unit.
Speaking to Autosport, Wolff said: “In terms of our performances, it’s not as dominant a season like it was last year, and for me it’s just a fact of diminishing returns with the stable regulations,”
“It’s what we always said – just leave the regulations alone, leave the rules alone, and the performance gap will shrink and eventually we are going to have some good racing.”
The sport can goes through a period of time where one team maximises the rules to dominate, Red Bull Racing dominated for four seasons from 2010 to 2013 and then Mercedes have taken over that dominance with their superior power unit and aero package.
“But then somebody else decided to invent something new for next year and it’s back to square one.” he added.
