Toto Wolff has said again that Mercedes will support the idea of an engine freeze at the end of the 2021 season. These words will sound like music to the Red Bull F1 management which has been pulsing for an engine freeze as it aims to acquire the IP around the Honda engine which it uses as the Japanese brand leaves the sport at the end of the 2021 season. Red Bull wants an engine freeze and hopes for a more affordable and less complex engine formula to come up by 2025 for the next era of regulations for the sport which will also focus on sustainability.
''It should still be possible. We all know what is going on in the world and we must do everything we can to introduce that new engine as early as 2025. All manufacturers have agreed to that. We would also support Red Bull in bringing the development freeze to 2022. I don't have a problem with that,'' says Wolff to Formel1.de.
Since 2019, with the addition of the Honda engine, Red Bull has become more competitive
Red Bull's plan entails developing the new engine with minor tweaks that Honda will bring in 2021 going further. If an engine development freeze is not enabled Red Bull potentially wouldn't be able to fund extreme development something that has become an arms war of sorts between Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.
Red Bull's desire for a work's status is core to the issue as it wants vertical integration between the engine and chassis for both its teams.
Like Mercedes, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is open to the idea of an engine freeze at the end the 2021 season. Photo Credit: AFP
Ferrari's team boss has also been open to the idea. Mattia Binotto is okay with the idea as long as there is no lock-in which would leave the hands tied of an engine manufacturer in case it makes a misstep and is unable to correct it leaving it uncompetitive. Renault remains an outlier thanks to its contentious relationship with Red Bull as its former engine partner and also a focus on its own development plan.
