Engine freeze: Ferrari F1 advocates altruism, Mercedes backtracks

Marco Mattiacci, the director of Scuderia Ferrari, is in favor of relaxing the engine freeze, but he believes that the intention was for it to benefit all of Formula 1 and not just the Maranello team.

« We have never worked from a cynical or tactical point of view by saying: let’s relax the rules so that we can catch up with Mercedes. That’s completely false. The starting point was that in Formula 1, I can’t wait a year to work on the engine and power unit. At least at Ferrari, we don’t think it’s a magic wand. If someone believes that, they are not at Ferrari. It’s a way of talking about innovation and continuing to work on the car, » said Mattiacci as quoted by ESPN F1.

Recently, Toto Wolff stated that Mercedes might support a relaxation of the engine freeze and thus align with the wishes of its two current rivals, Ferrari and Renault, things have changed on the side of the star brand and its customers in particular. Indeed, team officials recently met to discuss this possible relaxation of the regulations, and while most teams powered by Renault and Ferrari were in favor of the measure, this was not the case for the teams powered by Mercedes.

« You have to arrive for the season with your race car, and if you haven’t done a good enough job, then why change the regulations?, » said Claire Williams, head of the eponymous team that switched from Renault to Mercedes in the off-season.

Same sentiment from Toto Wolff now: « The development of the engines is absolute nonsense. If you haven’t solved the problems by the homologation on February 28, why should it be different three months later? »