Toto Wolff hopes that the new technical guidelines, which concern the flexibility of the wings, will affect some teams. The Mercedes team boss sees that Aston Martin has had to suffer with a less flexible wing and the Austrian secretly hopes that Red Bull Racing will also be a lot slower from the race weekend in Singapore. Still, Wolff does not dare to make any predictions for the upcoming Grand Prix.
New technical guidelines will be in effect at the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix. The FIA ​​wants to counter flexible front wings, as the governing body suspects that some teams had front wings that deflected too much. This was not visible to the FIA, as it is expected that the racing stables could mask this with smart technology. The governing body makes it clear in TD018, as the guidelines are called, that “designs that utilize local conformance or degrees of freedom are not allowed.”
It could be due to the technical guidelines that the relationships in Formula 1 will shift somewhat. ‘It’s going to be interesting. With Aston Martin you can already see that they have taken a step back now that their wing moves less, but I don’t know the details. Let’s wait and see,” Wolff is quoted by Motorsport.com. The Mercedes team boss naturally hopes that Red Bull will be the most affected. “I don’t know who benefits more than others, but who knows, maybe Red Bull is suddenly half a second slower. That would be nice, but I don’t think that will be the case.’
Wolff does not venture into a prediction for GP Singapore
The Singapore Grand Prix is ​​traditionally one of the toughest races on the Formula 1 calendar. Given the characteristics of the W14, it would be a job that Mercedes could suit. “This year and last year I have been careful in my predictions. I could say: High downforce, hooray. We will be on Red Bull’s tail next week or in two weeks. But you don’t know that, that’s the truth. The teams in places two to six can be quite close together. Sometimes it’s us, then Ferrari, McLaren or Aston Martin’, concludes Wolff.
