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Wolff: "We don't want to make the same mistake we made ten years ago"

29 November 2020 at 07:25
Last update 29 November 2020 at 10:05
  • GPblog.com

Toto Wolff says that Formula 1 has to be careful that the sport does not end up in a 'fuel and oil war'. He is afraid that by implementing new, sustainable fuels there will be too big a difference between teams if they start using different types of fuel.

"It is clear that batteries are becoming more and more efficient, and energy recovery is also taking place. I think that more sustainable fuels, whether synthetic or not, could be very interesting," explains the Mercedes team boss to Motorsport.com. The new rules are now under discussion, because sustainability and lower costs should be the goal of these new rules. Wolff feels that we have to be careful to see if the latter can actually be achieved.

He continues: "But we need to look at it with fuel and oil partners, because we don't want an escalating war in there. However interesting it may be for us to look for the limits. It is about finding the right balance."

"Costs must be reduced by 50%"

Mattia Binotto, Ferrari's team boss, said earlier that he believes the cost of an engine should be reduced by 50%. But the 48-year-old Austrian cannot give such a specific figure. "I do not know. But we have to look at this problem from two sides. We do not want to make the same mistake we made ten or eleven years ago. Then we said that the engineers had to come up with a concept, and now we have a fantastic, efficient power unit but one that costs a lot."