Formula 1
Wolff ‘surprised’ by Red Bull protest over F1 engine questions
Toto Wolff is “really surprised” that Red Bull is “protesting so loudly” against questions about its power unit and recent impressive straight-line speed in Formula 1.
Luke Smith
Edited: Jun 27, 2021, 12:07 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Max Verstappen scored Red Bull’s fourth win of the season in France last Sunday after passing Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap, ending Mercedes’ dominant recent record at the circuit.
Hamilton made note of Red Bull’s straight-line speed throughout the Paul Ricard race weekend, while Mercedes F1 boss Wolff said after the race that the team had made “a huge step forward with their power unit”. Wolff later clarified that this was not meant to suggest Honda had brought a major upgrade.
The F1 regulations for 2021 prohibit teams from bringing any performance upgrades to their power units, with changes in specification only permitted on reliability grounds. Red Bull switched power units on its cars ahead of the France weekend, with fellow Honda partner AlphaTauri doing the same for Pierre Gasly.
Red Bull has responded to questions about its impressive straight-line speed by attributing the gains to its low-drag set-up and smaller rear wing.
After taking pole on Saturday for the Styrian Grand Prix, Verstappen hit back at questions about his Honda engine performance, saying he wanted to “print out of the rear wing difference we’re running” and that there was “no clear advantage on pure power”.
Asked by Motorsport.com if there was any scope to unlock more engine performance through reliability tweaks, Mercedes boss Wolff expressed his surprise that Red Bull had protested the suggestion so much.
“I wonder why that is such a topic, when we all know that the power units need to be homologated,” Wolff said.
“I’m really surprised that the Red Bull guys keep protesting so loudly on the power unit story. So that is a bit weird.
“The rules are very clear. It’s homologated, you can come up with reliability fixes, and that’s it.
“Obviously there are certain things you can clean up, but you have your tokens and you need to use them, and that’s it.
“So there shouldn’t be any power advantage as such.”
Hamilton made reference to Red Bull’s straight-line speed after falling two-tenths of a second shy of Verstappen in qualifying on Saturday, saying it would make it “hard for us to compete with”.
Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, responded to a question about Red Bull’s straight-line speed by praising the work being completed back at the factory in Milton Keynes to bring more updates to the car.
“The team is pushing hard,” Perez said.
“Everyone back in the factory is trying to develop the car as best as possible, bringing upgrades pretty much every single weekend. You can see the results on-track.
“Obviously yeah, we’re running a smaller rear wing than the competition. So hopefully that can be an advantage come race day.”
Read Also:
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 Bottas calls Styrian GP pitlane spin penalty "quite harsh"
Next article Verstappen: Engineer "fired me up" for Styrian F1 pole lap
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
More from
Toto Wolff
Mercedes is considering a step backwards ahead of the Singapore GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Mercedes is considering a step backwards ahead of the Singapore GP
Why Toto Wolff’s $102,000 IWC watch can survive almost anything
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
Why Toto Wolff’s $102,000 IWC watch can survive almost anything
Otmar Szafnauer praises Toto Wolff after Kimi Antonelli gamble pays off
Formula 1
Formula 1
Spanish GP
Otmar Szafnauer praises Toto Wolff after Kimi Antonelli gamble pays off
More from
Red Bull Racing
Christian Horner clears air on “dream job” Ferrari rumours and sets return terms
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
8 h
Christian Horner clears air on “dream job” Ferrari rumours and sets return terms
Christian Horner “wasn’t given a reason” for his “painful” Red Bull exit after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
11 h
Christian Horner “wasn’t given a reason” for his “painful” Red Bull exit after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 4 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 4 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
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