After saying PU pushback ‘not worth the fight,’ Mercedes’ Wolff reacts sharply to questions about fuel

Toto Wolff says it is not worth Mercedes fighting the other manufacturers over a proposed change to the way compression ratios are tested in Formula 1, but the Mercedes team principal then reacted angrily to further questions relating to its fuel homologation.

Mercedes has been singled out by rivals that believe it has found a way of exceeding the compression ratio limit of 16:1 when its power unit is running, but passing FIA checks at ambient temperatures. The FIA has proposed a new test that also includes at a representative operating temperature of 130 C (266 F), and Wolff says the advantage Mercedes may have gained has been overblown.

“For me, the way it works, either we stay with the regulations like we are or the e-vote goes ahead on Friday with the proposal that came from the FIA,” Wolff said. “Both are OK for us.

“We said it all along that this looks like a storm in a teacup, the whole thing. And numbers were coming up that were... you know, if these numbers would have been true, I absolutely understand why somebody would fight it. But eventually, it's not worth the fight, [because] it doesn't change anything for us, whether we stay like this or whether we change the new regulations. And that's been a process.

“But we also want to be good citizens in the sport, because it doesn't make a big difference. Philosophically, you can disagree with it – because I believe regs are there to be made, and you keep the FIA [informed] close to you, and that's how it should be – but if you have four other PUs that are putting main pressure on the FIA at a certain stage, what choice do we have than not to play?

“We were pretty comfortable in even having a protest going on Friday in Melbourne [at the season opener, March 6-8]. But is this what we want?”

Asked about a report that Mercedes' fuel supplier Petronas is still awaiting homologation from the FIA for its sustainable fuel – a more rigorous and time-consuming process this year due to the need for the supply chain to comply with regulations – elicited a sharp reaction from Wolff.

“This is another of these stories," he said. "We were told [our] compression ratio is something that we were illegal – which is total bulls**t, utter bulls**t – and now the next story comes out that our fuel is illegal. I don't know where that comes from, and it starts spinning again.

“Maybe tomorrow we invented something else. I don't know, I’ve been on the Epstein files, God knows what? I mean, you're not happy with me saying that… I wasn’t! I don't know what else to say…

“Another nonsense. This is a complicated topic and the process and all of this, but there's just not... I can't even comment.”