It was recently confirmed that some of the world’s major car manufacturers are interested in F1 in the near future. There has been some talk of giving these new teams a relaxation on the budget cap to make it easier for them to enter the sport and be competitive. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is against such an idea and has warned prospective entrants to expect a tough time while speaking to Autosport
I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
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0:00 - Toto Wolff Warns New Car Companies About Entering F1
2:16 - Fast Feed
Wolff began by accepting that there is a need to make the sport more welcoming
“I think it's great that we have strong OEMs that are showing an interest in coming to the sport. Obviously, none of these major car companies wants to come in and face a situation that they are highly uncompetitive, and therefore we need to have systems in place that mitigate those very big risks”
However, he added that it should not be so easy that a newcomer can fight for the title straightaway
“But, on the other side, F1 is the Champions’ League, and nobody can expect to enter the Champions' League for the first time and be straight into the final and go home with the big trophy”
He pointed out how the teams and engine manufacturers currently competing in F1 have already paid their dues
“We've been there since a long time, we've invested lots of money, sweat and blood and terrible results in order to get us where we are. Look at Mercedes' history in the first three years of this being a works team. Look at the terrible Honda years that they faced, or the Renault days”
He explained why finding success in F1 takes time
“All of us had to fight our way up to eventually winning races and championships. So, it's a fine balance that we need to get right to attract newcomers as power unit manufacturers. I think everybody recognizes that you cannot just come and conquer, but you need to give it time”
He further suggested that this is one aspect some manufacturers fail to grasp
“That is what in the past many OEMs have just misunderstood. When you look at Toyota, Honda and BMW as near past experiences, all the money, all the resource is irrelevant if you don't give the project enough time”
He then summed up his words by reiterating his point
“I think everybody who joins F1 as a team or as a power unit manufacturer needs to understand this. It needs time. And that makes the sport so attractive: that it is just not easy to win”
Fast Feed
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen “knew the start was very important. We were three wide at one point and I was on the more ideal race line so I could brake later and get into the lead”
“Checo, for the last few races has really picked it up, he’s been up there and he was really pressuring Lewis today towards the end”, he further pointed out
“I’m still not thinking about that [championship] trophy, we’ll try again in Brazil and just keep pushing”, he summed up
His teammate Sergio Perez “really wanted more but unfortunately [he] didn’t get that. It was so messy in turn one so to avoid incident there was critical”
“Then I wanted second place, but we didn’t get the chance because it is just so difficult to overtake around here”, he continued
“I could actually hear the crowd when I was driving through Foro Sol. I wanted more but I am just very happy to be on the podium of my home country”, he summed up
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has stated that the swap with teammate Carlos Sainz “was already discussed before”
“So there was just one lap where they asked me to let him by but I was overtaking, I think, a blue flag car in front of me, so I didn’t do it that lap”
“And then the next lap I was asked to not do it anymore and then we did do it a bit later on. But overall everything was clear and as soon as I’ve been asked, I did it”
Sainz, meanwhile, added that he “managed to… obviously get the team order to go past Charles and then try and catch [Pierre] Gasly, but Gasly was very strong this weekend and we couldn’t make it stick”
“We did what we wanted, which was to outscore McLaren by a fair bit"
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has revealed that “the situation at the end with the fastest lap was a bit funny”
“It wasn’t easy to find a clear space on track but in the end we were able to make it stick and at least take that point away from Red Bull”, he added
“Overall, not a great day today – but at least the next race is on Sunday, so we can come back stronger then”
His teammate Lewis Hamilton is ”grateful [he] could still at least get a second-place finish”
“Now we need to get our heads down and keep working hard to prepare for the next races, they will be coming at us fast over the next two weekends”, he concluded
[All quotes taken from the post-race interviews]
Will Ferrari be able to hold on to third place in the championship for the remainder of 2021?
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