Wolff not concerned about legality of Mercedes’ F1 sidepod design

Mercedes turned heads in the Bahrain paddock on Thursday when Lewis Hamilton hit the track in an updated W13 featuring a radical new sidepod concept for the opening day of the second pre-season test. 

The solution to F1’s new rules for 2022 piqued the interest of rival Red Bull, whose team boss Christian Horner was quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport as saying the design “violates the spirit of the regulations”, something the team later moved to clarify. 

But Mercedes team principal Wolff insists he has no concerns about the legality of his car because the FIA was involved in the process.

“The process is really clear, when you go in a specific development direction with your team, having the FIA part of scrutinising it, you are exchanging CAD data and making them part of the process,” Wolff said. 

“The car, we are really proud of what we have achieved in terms of concept, but now we need to make it go fast,” he added. “It’s a development direction that we like. It’s about tuning the car. We’re experimenting a lot and approaching it with curiosity.” 

However, a change in the governance structure in F1 means that a ‘super majority’ vote - featuring the backing of at least eight teams - could result in an innovation being banned, even if it had been cleared by the FIA. 

“It’s clear that sometimes when you come with an innovation, it creates the kind of debate that we are having here,” Wolff explained. “That’s why that was expected. 

“We have the new governance with the super majority that’s needed. My opinion is that I would have preferred to stay with the old system and if a team comes up with an innovation, possibly you can’t take it off the car if it’s compliant with the regulations. 

“I think the FIA and Formula 1 will for sure handle that with diligence, in the spirit of the sport. We were keen in not running alone with that, but being in touch with the FIA, that’s why I think it will be okay.”