(Motorsport-Total.com) – Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has spoken out in favor of more open Formula 1 regulations in order to better avoid gray areas such as the dispute over the compression ratio of the power units. At the same time, the federation should only ban things if it can actually control them.
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“I don’t want to oversimplify it, but with rules it’s like this: the more restrictive they are, the more susceptible they become to gray areas,” explains Mekies in an interview with Motorsport.com Italy, a sister platform of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network. “If you opt for a more open set of rules, the likelihood of disputes decreases.”
But the Red Bull team principal is of course also aware that open regulations for Formula 1 are “not a panacea” because they would also bring some disadvantages: “The first is the cost explosion, which would put massive pressure on the budget cap these days,” he says.
“The other risk with less strict rules is that the field will fall much further apart. If you grant more freedom, some will use these areas better than others, and the gap between the best and the worst could potentially become larger.”
It is therefore more a question of which value is rated higher. For Mekies, however, one thing would be important in this matter: “I have always been of the opinion that you should only ban what you can actually control.”
However, this is not the case when it comes to the compression ratio in the engine. Although there are tests at ambient temperature, the Mercedes power unit is said to exceed the permitted ratio during operation – but measurements are not taken there.
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Theoretically, a violation would therefore not be provable for Mercedes, even if the competition insists on the passage that a Formula 1 car must be legal at all times.
However, at the urging of the competition, the FIA has readjusted once again and will tighten its measurements from August 1: Then the ratio will no longer only be measured at ambient temperatures, but also at a representative operating temperature of 130 degrees Celsius.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff had said that although he rejected this “philosophically,” the Silver Arrows nevertheless gave in during the dispute.
Mekies wants one thing above all on this topic: clarity. “Tell us what we are allowed to do, and the rest is secondary,” he says. “It is crucial to understand exactly what is allowed – and then, in my opinion, every participant should have the freedom to achieve the goal in the way they think is best. That applies not only to the power unit, but to everything.”
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