Strong words from the Mercedes team principal
The 2026 F1 regulations have amplified the rift between the ‘purist’ public, passionate about this category for years, and the ‘generalist’ public of the last hour who discovered F1 ‘by rebound’ through social media or Netflix.
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Those accustomed to a F1 that must be the ultimate expression of speed and technique can only shudder at an endless litany of abominations such as superclipping, harvesting, lift and coast, etc., while those who have not known F1 made exclusively of pistons and bolts with mandatory earplug engines do not even have the eye to notice all these artifices or dynamics that are established in what has been renamed the ‘Yo-Yo Formula’ made of overtakes and counter-overtakes that essentially do not change the standings.
This weekend, racing will take place in Miami, and in Florida, the changes to the regulations will be tested for the first time in a weekend that includes two qualifying sessions and two races, as it is a Sprint format.
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Interviewed by Autosprint, the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was very clear in emphasizing that it is necessary for the F1 high echelons not to listen to ‘gut feelings’, but to perfect a regulation that, by the numbers, currently works in terms of approval ratings: “We are the guardians of the temple and have the sacred duty to protect what this sport has given us. Sometimes we take on the role of conservatives, erecting walls to save the system. But these religious wars must be fought in secret, behind the scenes. The words we utter to the wind shape public opinion, and weigh on the long-term destiny of F1. I hear the sighs of those who long for the epics of the early 2000s, where overtakes were mirages. Yet, if we reduce Sunday to boredom, we condemn ourselves to oblivion”.
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