Mercedes boss Toto Wolff thinks five or six teams could be in contention for Formula 1 race wins in the near future due to technical regulations and financial budget caps.
The 2022 F1 season starts with the Bahrain Grand Prix in mid-March, but before that, in February, the new cars will be unveiled along with the testing that follows.
With new rules in place, it is hoped that closer racing will be seen with far more evenly matched cars, which is hoped to take away the domination by a handful of teams over the last few years.
Eight years of domination
Mercedes has dominated the sport since 2014, claiming eight straight Constructors' crowns and seven consecutive Drivers' titles in the turbo-hybrid era. Wolff thinks their days of dominating as much may change soon due to the budget cap and new technical guidance that has been put in place now.
The Mercedes team boss told Auto Motor und Sport: "I believe that the budget cap will bring a lot of things into line. If one finds a loophole and runs away with it, everyone will copy it. The cars will all be very similar. There may still be differences in the first year.
"After that, it will even out. There will no longer be a team that is a second ahead. Of course, the teams that had deep pockets were not particularly happy about the fact that an advantage was taken away from us. But the whole thing degenerated into an arms race between Red Bull, Ferrari and us. Now it will all be more balanced.
"I think that in the future, five or six teams will be in contention for victories. That is good for the sport. Also, the same team doesn't always win the Superbowl."
Stay Frosty, Boss. ?? pic.twitter.com/hXEgoGDepH
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) January 19, 2022
