They did it to stop us! Toto Wolff complains about the long-ago rule change and returned for the 2021 season

Mercedes has experienced similar years of dominance in Formula 1 to what Red Bull Racing is currently experiencing. The team around Lewis Hamilton has won eight consecutive Constructors’ Cup titles, with the Briton himself winning six championships between the 2014 and 2020 seasons. However, he then lost his dominance, whereupon stable boss Toto Wolff believes that this was due to the new rules set at the time.

One of the most dominant ones was the 2020 season, in which Hamilton racked up a total of 347 points and eleven wins.

He built up a 124-point lead over his then teammate Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes triumphed in the Constructors’ Cup for the seventh consecutive season with 573 points.

The German team also won its eighth consecutive title in the memorable year of 2021, but it was in that season that Hamilton was replaced on the driver’s throne by another driver – Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver, along with Red Bull, then established himself as the benchmark for all other teams in F1.

The team broke Mercedes’ hegemony in 2022, with Verstappen defending his championship title. And this year, he will very likely get a third.

MAX VERSTAPPEN – HISTORY MAKER! 👏🔥 pic.twitter.com/7quP3PUCpv

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 3, 2023

Wolff returned to the 2021 season and pointed to the rule changes

As far as the aforementioned dominance is concerned, it was Mercedes that replaced Red Bull on the top step. And his boss Toto Wolff believes that the rule changes were introduced in the past to stop the dominance of the Silver Arrows.

“We probably lost the championship in 2021 for many reasons. One of them was the final race in Abu Dhabi. We also lost it because the regulations were set up to reduce the advantage we had,” Wolff told media, including Racing News 365.

Needless to say, for the 2021 season, the FIA made changes to the regulations to reduce downforce by 10 per cent for teams having to make an angled cut in the floor in front of the rear tyres. And this, according to Wolff, was the key feature of the car that gave Mercedes a dominant 2020 season.

“The 2020 season was absolutely dominant for us. I think we had the best car at that time. But towards the end of the season, these changes came in to stop us,” the Mercedes boss explained.

“In 2021 you could see the consequences, we were no longer as competitive as Red Bull. But at Silverstone we unlocked the car’s greater potential and got back into the fight for the win. In any case, the regulations back then were clearly aimed at realigning the (championship) standings,” Wolff is clear.

Source: F1, Racing News 365