Wolff says current Mercedes engine problems not due to Cowell exit
Oct.29 - Toto Wolff has rejected suggestions Mercedes may be suffering with poor engine reliability due to the departure of a key team member.
Andy Cowell, the highly respected former boss of Mercedes' highly successful Formula 1 engine arm, decided last year to leave the sport.
His absence has coincided with an obvious spate of engine reliability problems for Mercedes in 2021, with team boss Wolff admitting the team is yet to "fully understand" the cause.
But Wolff denies it is connected with Cowell's exit.
"One of the strengths of this company is its depth of staff," he is quoted by Speed Week.
"Of course, Andy is an extraordinary person who has contributed a lot to our success, but so is his successor, Hywel Thomas," Wolff insisted.
"I have 100 percent confidence in our current structure and I don't think any difficulty can be determined to have arisen from the fact that a top person left the company."
Curiously, however - even though Valtteri Bottas has used double his allowed allocation of power units so far in 2021 - Wolff doesn't think F1 should do away with its long engine life rules.
Red Bull's Christian Horner, on the other hand, is calling for a rethink.
"I've never been a fan of this limited number of engines per season," he said.
"I understand that it was put in place to stop costs getting out of hand. But in the end you still use at least four units in a season anyway.
"And that not only costs more, it also imposes penalties on the drivers."
Wolff, despite Mercedes' problems, has a different view.
"We need to avoid a situation where we make power units that last only a few races. If we took away the grid penalties, you'd take something like a loss of constructors' points and simply put a lot of engines in the car fighting for the drivers' championship," he said.
However, he is also quoted by Marca sports newspaper as admitting any alternative ideas are "worth looking at".
"I agree that it's confusing for new fans to see a driver sent to the back of the grid like that. But I don't have the solution," said Wolff.
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Now that they have a budget cap it kind of seems redundant to have restriction and penalty, when teams now would want to use only 4 engines anyway. So why not just make the limit 4 engines. It seems that’s the best that can be realistically achievable at the moment. If they could get through the season with 3 don’t you think they would do it?
Humm. Perhaps.
With that logic, why have an engine limit at all? Let the budget be the cap...
Absolutely agree. Here's your allowance, spend it however want to. The question remains, how to accurately police the budget cap. Bet those paddock condos and zillion $$$ pit utensils quickly disappear.
You forgot a ban of hair stylists and associated products, that's enough to make Hamish retire immediately
In any case the engines aren't covered by the budget cap at present, I assume the deal is , your engines for the yr cost say 10M/12m for eg Regardless of how many they use no/yes ?
Why not allow X$$$ to be deposited in a discrete account for ALL team related expenses, and audit that account (and balance sheet) monthly with no restrictions on how it is spent? Exceed the annual limit and no WDC points. Too simple?
Of course, not. Unrealistic to think a single individual could have this massive impact on things.
As i seem to remember , the teams started to take p*** and record absolutely everything they were spending down to 1$ items, in order to prove that the budget cap is Bollox , so and im sure i read it that they aren't checking the accounts now/less stringently, in other words -trusting the team not to overspend, , like that's going to work....lol
Somehow I feel that we fans deserve the best drivers and equipment that money can buy. Anything less and I feel cheated when I'm watching racing that could be so much better. If the lower budget teams can't compete, well, they can't compete now. It's possible the bottom-dwellers will drop out but in this day and age, others will pick up the slack. What we do need are safer tracks and equipment along with engines and car bodies that will keep the drivers safe and go faster every season. Let them use every trick in the book to keep the cars running and running fast.
MB will never admit a chink in their armour. Heaven forbid they needed one of the best engineers around
They should admit the failings
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