Mercedes acknowledges that in the coming weeks, the team will face some tricky decisions about when to close the development of Formula 1 in 2021 to focus on next year’s work. F1 is preparing for the rules revolution in 2022. The degree of change next season means the team cannot fall behind in early development.
This is because the biggest performance steps will be found in the early stages of design in 2022, and if it starts late, it will be very difficult to catch up with the opponent. However, teams still need to balance, and if they want to compete for a good position, they cannot completely sacrifice their current record.
World Champion Mercedes faces a particularly difficult situation as it looks to be fighting for this year's championship with Red Bull , so Mercedes is clear that any move to close existing racing jobs early could lose the chance of a championship.
Mercedes team owner Toto Wolf admits that there is no obvious answer to when it will be best to focus everything in 2022, but he thinks all teams will face similar troubles.
Wolf said: "For all teams, the resources to invest in the 2021 racing and power units are the same as those in 2022. The 2022 regulations will be implemented for a considerable period of time. Once the 2021 season starts to lose money, it will be difficult to catch up. So it will take some time to converge. These are tricky issues and we are evaluating them regularly."
Although Mercedes won the opening game of the F1 season in Bahrain, the team admits that competitor Red Bull now seems to have the fastest racing car. Wolf said his team's current feeling is different from that in recent years, and the team has been confident in having a strong suite in recent years.
