F1 News: Toto Wolff Eager To Not Repeat Christian Horner Reaction To Insane Dominance

A regulation change in 2022 laid the groundwork for Red Bull's dominance.

Following Red Bull's continued dominance in Saudi Arabia, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff stressed his determination to steer clear of the situation faced by Christian Horner, whose team has been dominating the F1 grid since 2022. Having experienced a similar era of dominance in the past, Toto emphasizes the importance of not succumbing to the pitfalls of regulatory changes once more.

Key Takeaways:

• Mercedes boss Toto Wolff aims to avoid the pitfalls seen in Red Bull's recent dominance, stressing the need to learn from Christian Horner's situation.
• Red Bull continued their winning streak with a one-two finish in Jeddah, maintaining their lead in both championships.
• Despite improvements from Ferrari, Red Bull's dominance remains unchallenged. Wolff urges focus on performance improvements rather than regulatory changes.

Red Bull Press Image

Red Bull secured a commanding early lead in both championships, with Max Verstappen leading Sergio Perez home for their second one-two finish of the season in Jeddah on Saturday. This result extends Red Bull's winning streak, with the team having won every race except one since the São Paulo Grand Prix in 2022.

Mercedes enjoyed its era of domination from 2014 until 2021. Though the field was much tighter back then, there was a call for regulation changes to improve competition and make the sport a lot more exciting to watch. 

However, in the ground effect era that ensued in 2022, the battle for the top has become a one-sided game, thanks to Red Bull's meritocracy and Adrian Newey's masterful track tools, such as the RB19 from last year and the RB20 of the current year. 

Though Ferrari seems to have halved the gap in the front this season, there's more room to be covered for a tough fight with the Milton Keynes outfit. With Mercedes still struggling to solve the bouncing problem and optimize its setup, Wolff emphasized that he wouldn't want to fall for the Horner trap. Speaking to the media after the Saudi Arabian GP, he said:

"I don't want to fall in the trap of my fellow team principal from next door in 2014 or '15... he said we should change the regs because it's too dominant.

"I think they've done by far the best job of all the teams over the last two years and credit where credit is due. I mean they are literally disappearing in the distance as they want, and there's nobody else close.

"They had Ferrari today, Leclerc a little bit and if Sainz would have been here, they would have been second best on the road. But there is not this huge performance differential between everybody that follows up and down.

"Depending on the track, it's just that they are in a different league."

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