F1 News
Seidl: "Mercedes can only be stopped by artificially slowing them down"
- GPblog.com
For a while it looked like the Grand Prix at Monza was going to be a relatively boring race with Lewis Hamilton as the winner again. Until the red flag came and the whole race was kicked off. The podium we saw last Sunday was also unthinkable and the situations that arose made us think again. Without Mercedes in the lead, it's a lot more interesting from the start.
More exciting races
The rules starting in 2022 should make for more exciting races. Until then, the general expectation is that Mercedes will dominate. In that context, the sport will depend mainly on unforeseen situations that will have a big impact on the races, resulting in a real spectacle, like last Sunday.
McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl argues that the position of Mercedes is right, but fun is different. "With the dominance of Mercedes, which they have worked hard for years to achieve, they obviously deserve to drive where they drive. But unfortunately that leads to boring races," says Seidl at Motorsport-Total.de. "So at the moment it's okay if something like Monza happens."
"I'm sure that with what's coming in 2022, the budget cap and a new technical regulation, we'll be closer together. This so that we get more races like last weekend, perhaps as a new normality." Until then, however, other solutions are needed to break the Mercedes dominance.
"I think the only way to get more interesting races in the next year and a half is to artificially slow down Mercedes, or create some sort of coincidence with reverse starting positions. That's the reality we're in." Here Seidl shoots the idea of more different tires, because in the end Mercedes still has the speed to make up for any delays. See, for example, Hamilton last weekend that came from far away.
Reversed grids
Seidl also suggests in his wording to look at inverted grids, because that potentially results in beautiful races. That idea was fired by Mercedes earlier this year, but after the race at Monza it will play up again. For example, after the Italian Grand Prix, Ross Brawn announced he would like to look at the idea again.
It won't be in this year, but it could be in 2021. This is because votes on proposals no longer need to be unanimous. Exactly why Mercedes was able to stop it this year.