According to Laurent Mekies, restrictive rules are more prone to gray areas, and the FIA should only ban things that can be proven.
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has spoken out in favor of more open Formula 1 regulations in order to better avoid gray areas such as the dispute over the compression ratio of the engines. At the same time, the association should only ban things if it can actually control them.
“I don’t want to oversimplify it, but with rules, the more restrictive they are, the more prone they are to gray areas,” Mekies explained in an interview with Motorsport.com Italy. “If you opt for a more open set of rules, the likelihood of disputes decreases.”
But the Red Bull team boss is also aware, of course, that open regulations for Formula 1 are “not a panacea” because they would also have some disadvantages: “The first is the explosion in costs, which would put massive pressure on the budget cap these days,” he says.
“The other risk with less stringent rules is that the field will become much more fragmented. If you allow more freedom, some will make better use of these areas than others, and the gap between the best and the worst could potentially widen.”
It is therefore more a question of which good is valued more highly. For Mekies, however, one thing would be important in this question: “I have always believed that you should only ban what you can actually control.”
However, this is not the case when it comes to the compression ratio in the engine. Although there are tests at ambient temperature, the Mercedes engine is said to exceed the permitted ratio during operation – but this is not measured.
Theoretically, therefore, Mercedes could not be proven to be in violation, even if the competition insists that a Formula 1 car must be legal at all times.
However, at the insistence of its competitors, the FIA has made further adjustments and will tighten its measurements from August 1: From then on, the ratio will no longer be measured only at ambient temperatures, but also at a representative operating temperature of 130 degrees Celsius.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said that although he rejected this “philosophically,” the Silver Arrows nevertheless relented in the dispute.
Mekies wants one thing above all else on this issue: clarity. “Tell us what we’re allowed to do, and the rest is irrelevant,” he says. “It is crucial to understand exactly what is allowed—and then, in my opinion, every participant should have the freedom to achieve the goal in the way they think is best. This applies not only to the power unit, but to everything.”
