Breaking news
Formula 1
Williams refutes claims of Mercedes engine parity gripe
Claire Williams has denied suggestions that her team played a role in persuading the FIA to clamp down on F1 customer engine parity this season.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Mar 5, 2018, 2:28 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In the wake of the technical directive on the matter issued by Charlie Whiting in January, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner suggested that the media “should ask Claire Williams” where the impetus for the FIA’s new focus on parity came from.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has since denied that the FIA has targeted Mercedes or that either Williams or Force India had lobbied the FIA, and the Grove outfit’s deputy team principal has now backed up the Austrian’s view.
“Contrary to comments made recently in the press, we refute any suggestion that we have questioned the parity of the power units provided by Mercedes-AMG HPP,” Williams said in a statement.
“We are absolutely confident that the power units used by Mercedes, Force India and ourselves are identical in terms of both hardware and software.
“We have an excellent professional and personal relationship with Mercedes, and our focus is firmly on continuing the good work that we have started, as we prepare for the final test in Barcelona this week ahead of the new season.”
Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe has suggested that there is no reason for the team to push for parity – because in theory it could help its immediate rivals to find more performance from their power units.
“If you analyse it, it’s probably bad for us, because I’m not aware of any difference that memo will make to Mercedes,” he told Motorsport.com.
“It might affect other engine manufacturers, in which case it will bump up some of our potential rivals, like McLaren or Red Bull, for the sake of argument.
"On that basis it certainly would not be in our interest to have promoted it.”
Lowe says that Mercedes prefers customers to have the same specs and operating conditions, because it can learn more from six cars than two.
“Mercedes values the contribution of their customer teams in the generation of engine performance and reliability data. So they want us to run at the same levels.”
Read Also:
- Who was behind F1's latest push for parity?
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article How teams are circumventing F1's blown wings clampdown
Next article How the halo has opened up new aero possibilities
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Mercedes
Mercedes: “We had people who hadn’t done a live pitstop for 15 years” in Singapore GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
14 h
Mercedes: “We had people who hadn’t done a live pitstop for 15 years” in Singapore GP
Christian Horner: Kimi Antonelli has 'earned' the right to be Mercedes' number one
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
17 h
Christian Horner: Kimi Antonelli has 'earned' the right to be Mercedes' number one
Latest news
Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
7 h
Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
11 h
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 11 h
TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
12 h
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe