Wolff: Deadline for 2021 regulations could be extended

Formula 1 officials could extend the deadline to finalise the sporting and technical regulations for the 2021 season beyond the end of June, according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

Representatives from all 10 teams met with F1’s governing body, the FIA, and the commercial rights holder, Liberty Media, in London earlier this week in a bid to get closer to an agreement on rules and the future structure of the sport.

Teams were encouraged by the progress made at the London meeting, but face a race against time to get the sporting and technical regulations finalised by June 30, a deadline set out in the FIA’s International Sporting Code.

While Mercedes chief Wolff also made positive noises about the meeting, he said on Friday in Bahrain that the idea of extending the deadline to beyond the end of June was under consideration, so long as there is unanimous agreement between the teams.

“I think we need to discuss all the components of the 2021 regulations, technical regulations, the prize fund redistribution, the cost cap, and all these things,” Wolff told Sky Sports.

“It was a productive meeting. We got a lot of information that we need to digest now.

“I think obviously June would be the perfect case to get the regs signed off. We’re discussing whether to extend that deadline.

“I think we could do with a unanimous decision, but we need to check it from a legal standpoint, and obviously the positions are very different from all the teams - a little bit like in the House of Commons I guess!

“Obviously I think we’ll get the result one day.”

One of the biggest shifts in talks over the past year has come in Ferrari's stance, which is thought to have softened following a change in its senior F1 management.

As well as installing a new CEO in Louis C. Camilleri following the death of Sergio Marchionne last summer, Ferrari's F1 team is also under a new leader after Mattia Binotto replaced Maurizio Arrivabene in January.

Asked if he felt he was able to work closer with Binotto than Arrivabene, Wolff said: "They’re completely different individuals on both sides of the spectrum.

"One is an engineer, the other is a marketeer. Therefore also I think we must give them credit as different personalities.

"[Binotto] is super-tactical. He’s a chess player, but it’s very enjoyable, you’re ramping up your own game dealing with good people."