Mercedes blocked F1’s "wrong" qualifying race proposal

Toto Wolff has confirmed that Mercedes was one of the two teams to vote against a proposal to introduce qualifying races at three rounds during the 2020 Formula 1 season.

F1 had hoped to experiment with the weekend format in 2020 ahead of the next regulation overhaul planned for 2021 by introducing Saturday reserve-grid qualifying races that would determine the grid for Sunday’s main grand prix.

The plan was for qualifying races – which would be set by the reverse championship order – to take on Saturday at three of the 21 races next year, with Paul Ricard, Spa-Francorchamps and Sochi the suggested venues to trail the idea.

But F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn revealed over the Mexican Grand Prix weekend that the move has been scrapped after facing opposition from two teams, with any such change requiring unanimous agreement among all 10 teams.

Wolff said Mercedes was against the proposal due to wanting to retain the “core DNA” of the championship.

“I did it because I think we have a responsibility in Formula 1 to preserve what the core DNA is,” Wolff explained when asked why he voted against the plans.

“It felt wrong not in order to preserve an advantage, because maybe it would have been good for us, Ferrari would have been behind us when you look at the current qualifying pace.

“But I voted against it because I feel when you are looking at a 100m final at the Olympics, you are not making Usain Bolt start five metres behind just to make for an exciting finish.”