Wolff sees opportunities for cooperation between Formula 1 and Formula E
General
- GPblog.com
Where Formula 1 runs on fuel, the automobile industry is shifting its attention to electric driving. Motorsport is connecting with Formula E, which is now completely separate from the premier class of motor racing. More intensive cooperation in the long term is not excluded and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff can imagine it.
Missed opportunities
Formula E founder Alejandro Agag recently hinted that Formula 1 should go electric. This has been suggested before but never acted upon, so Agag argues that opportunities have been missed in the past. This includes the inclusion of Formula E in the Formula 1 family. According to Agag, Bernie Ecclestone should have done this.
Formula E would have been a nice extra series for during Formula 1 weekends. Also, it could have developed better alongside the top of motorsport. That does not exclude the possibility that it is impossible, but Formula E now stands as something on its own. This is because the prestige and audience are different, but Agag sees a merger as possible sooner or later.
Agag in conversation with Speedweek.com: "Formula 1 has to make the transition to electric mobility no matter what. If it doesn't do that together with Formula E, there will be no opportunity to do so for at least 19 years." And that refers to the contract Formula E has with the FIA for 25 years of exclusive rights to race electric. With only six seasons left, a partnership between now and 2040 is more or less the only option. Provided, of course, that Formula 1 switches to electric racing at all.
Merger must be possible
Toto Wolff reacts to these statements when asked for his opinion, saying that a merger could be considered in the longer term. Wolff: "Both companies are ultimately owned by the same man - John Malone. The reason it hasn't worked out so far is because both platforms are trying to position themselves in the best possible way."
"If synergy is possible one day, then you could already be racing together during a race weekend - on the street circuits, for example. I think that's a super thing, but that requires the agreement of all stakeholders and in motorsport - as we know - that's not easy," the Mercedes team boss said.
Racing together on race weekends is a step forward, but Wolff's words suggest that it will be extremely difficult. In the short term, it doesn't look like there will be any intensive cooperation. This is in view of all the regulations that will come into force in 2022 and later in the decade when a new type of engine will have to be used, which is still being discussed.