Whilst the Chinese Grand Prix might have taken out minds off the politics that normally dominate the sport, it comes as no surprise that days later the usual squabbles based on self-interest are beginning to emerge.

Earlier this week, based on the Shanghai evidence, Toto Wolff called on the sport to hold off on plans to introduce a raft of new rules for 2017, claiming that it would to be wrong to change a formula that is currently working. Then again, with his team dominating one might have expected such a reaction even though he has denied this.

Now, Red Bull's very own Lord High Executioner, Helmut Marko has hit out at his countryman, accusing him of being paranoid.

"Except for Toto and the teams that must follow him due to their engine contracts, everyone is for a change," he told Motorsport Magazin. "Even Sergio Marchionne agrees.

"Only Herr Wolff has this paranoid fear that Mercedes will lose its superiority if you change even the smallest thing on the engine or chassis," he continued. "He is doing everything he can to prevent any change."

Of course, this comes from the team that has been insisting on rule changes following its fruitless task of finding an engine supplier that would allow it to continue its own dominance... Mercedes having been its engine of choice.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by mickl, 24/04/2016 13:06

"Get rid of the wings/standardise them along with the return of ground effect. That'll be a new aero standard. Also go back to manual gearboxes and no rev limiter and no power steering. That'll sort out the men from the boys on skill and stamina."

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2. Posted by F One, 23/04/2016 16:24

"Does Marko never ever stop complaining?!?!"

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 22/04/2016 16:28

"Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?"

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4. Posted by Canuck, 22/04/2016 12:25

"Marko speaks out of personal interest not the sport interest. Wolf is right, the longer the rules are stable, the closer the racing will be. Mercedes investments are now diminishing returns as other teams are catching up. Marko knows that RB has the most advanced aero team, so of course he wants that advantage at the forefront. Now that other teams are catching up on both aero and P.U. he wants new aero rules. He still believes racing should be done in the engineering departments of the teams and drivers are only there to show-off the talent behind the scenes. When will Sky televise the work going on in CFD screens and wind tunnels smoke patterns? How many fans can this attract? Interviews with the engineers explaining the complex calculations, how to analyze the droplets of flow viz on the body of the cars? I wish there was a way of measuring the wake force behind a car generated by this downforce and a way of ruling a limit -i.e the wake shall not exceed x value and shall not extent beyond x meters behind the car."

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5. Posted by Tristian, 21/04/2016 23:30

"I agree with Wolff - under stable rules, perfomance between all teams is converging and that can only bring them closer together on the race track. Constant rules changes, apart from being costly, will only allow another team to achieve dominance and we are back to square one again. Marko favours 2017 rules because they will see more dependence on aero - which is a massive mistake because then cars can't follow and overtake each other. Needless to say, aero rule changes suit Red Bull with the inimitable Adrian Newey on board.

The best solution is a period of sustained rule stability, with perhaps no more than an incremental decrease in aero-dependency and an increase in mechanical grip via, say, wider tyres, etc. This will promote overtaking and be less expensive that a total rule change."

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6. Posted by raven49, 21/04/2016 20:26

"Well, the Chinese Grand Prix was interesting BUT what made it different. Well, there were the collisions on the first lap which hit a couple of fast cars and impacted their race putting them back in the pack. This is racing, of course. But, later on with strategies playing out, the appearance of the pace car bunched everyone up letting Lewis Hamilton make up considerable ground with no effort. Others with poor strategies were able to pit maintaining their place while others had their successful strategies wiped out. This is also racing luck BUT it doesn't change the impetus to change rules to improve racing.

Ferrari and Red Bull are much closer to Mercedes and tactical mistakes probably cost Ferrari a victory in the previous race. That was racing. Some are improving with the maturity of existing rules but that change will not provide what the fans want and deserve. Even with rules changes, the best team (engineers, drivers, pit crews, etc.) will still rise to the top.
Running the lousy qualifying format a second time, showed it was lousy a second time. An exciting race was exciting because of collisions and appearance of the pace car. It seems some fans now want a pace car sent out at random times. Good luck with that."

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Marko hits out at Wolff

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