Toto Wolff called upon Formula 1 chiefs to review why the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was such a snooze-fest, hinting that action needs to be taken with Red Bull so far ahead of the competition.
Not so long ago, it was the Austrian's Mercedes team which was dominating the grid, winning eight constructors' titles in a row. But now Red Bull are the F1 kings – romping to the 2022 championship in record fashion and threatening an even more dominant victory this year.
The gap to their nearest challengers Aston Martin is already at 93 points at just four races, while Mercedes are 11 points further behind in a distant third place. Sergio Perez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend to match Max Verstappen's total for the season so far – another one-two finish secured.
Even further back the order in Baku, there was little action to be found. The first Sprint weekend of the year on one of the most unforgiving street circuits in F1 promised carnage – but the race was a damp squib with little overtaking to be found, meaning the only entertainment came from Verstappen's post-Sprint handbags with George Russell.
"It was not a thriller," said Mercedes chief Wolff after the race, in which his drivers finished sixth and eighth. "No overtaking, even with a big pace difference, made it not great entertainment. Even if you are within 0.2secs, it is nearly impossible to overtake unless the other driver makes a mistake."
His words might have come across as an indirect criticism of the new car regulations which came into force last year, which were supposed to allow the cars to run more closely together and promote overtaking. But he made sure to specify that he was not advocating for a return to how it was before.
Wolff added: "After a race weekend like this, we mustn't talk it down overall and say it is the wrong direction and we need to change completely. It is more about asking why wasn't it entertaining, and revisit it. We need to look at how we can avoid a boring race."
And what about the big picture? "You have two cars sailing off into the sunset on merit and there is a 20-second gap. I wouldn't know between Aston Martin and Ferrari and us who was quicker because you are stuck where you are stuck and that is pretty much it.
"You can see [Red Bull's] car is barely moving, be it on straights or over bumps. Corner-through balance looks easy. You look at all the other onboards and the cars are tricky. Generally, ground-effect cars are rubbish cars – it is just who has the least rubbish is ahead."
Despite his complaints, Wolff stressed his belief that the responsibility to close the gap to Red Bull rests with the other teams chasing the defending champions. He said: "We see a pattern. There are two Red Bulls, and then there are six cars, and a long way off is the third division.
"That has been the pattern the first four races and we have to shake that up somehow. They were 20 seconds ahead of [Ferrari racer Charles] Leclerc after 40 racing laps, so it is half a second a lap. At least we have seen they were pushing so that is the real pace. Half a second is quite a long way to go.
"We either have to do a better job all of us together to catch them or change the regulations – and I don't think we should be doing the second one. We just need to win on merit and that means being more clever than Red Bull."
