Otmar Szafnauer, currently CEO and managing partner of Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR), has spoken out about the power dynamics in Formula 1 under the new engine regulations. However, the former Alpine team boss has his doubts about Mercedes’ dominance and suggests that the Brackley factory team may deliberately not be getting the maximum out of its power unit.
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“As far as I’m concerned, they’ve simply done a great job with the powertrain,” Szafnauer states in the High Performance podcast. “But for the first time ever, there’s also a cost cap for engines. You can’t keep spending endless money to fix a bad powertrain if you don’t have a Mercedes.”
According to him, this financial limitation means that competitors are hardly able to make up for a once-incurred deficit. Szafnauer also points out that this effect is reinforced by the phased freeze on engine development. “For the first time, there will be a progressive freeze on the powertrain,” he explains. “These two factors together – the cost cap and that freeze – ensure that the advantage they have today will also be maintained.”
Grey Area
Although the FIA can grant additional development room to engine manufacturers who are clearly behind through special exception rules, Szafnauer also has reservations about this. “If you are so far behind, there are tokens that allow you to redevelop certain parts. But then you have to be two, four percent or even more short before that is possible.”
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It is precisely in that grey area that Mercedes is rumored to be operating strategically in the paddock. “I think it is now being said that Mercedes is not showing its true cards,” says Szafnauer. “So that Ferrari stays within that two percent and doesn’t get extra development tokens.”
He emphasizes that these are rumors he hears, not established facts.
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