Wolff on popularity and future of Formula 1: ‘The range is bigger than ever’

Toto Wolff sees that Formula 1 is currently more popular than ever and thinks the title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton has certainly contributed to that. The new rules for 2022 will also provide a more exciting competitive image within Formula 1, the Austrian believes.

“Over the past year, it has become clear that we are attracting a younger audience,” says Wolff in conversation with Automotive, motor and sport. “It’s become its own fan base.” The 50-year-old Mercedes team boss says Netflix has played a big part in Formula 1’s popularity. followed this sport before, which opened up a new target group for us.

Wolff: “F1 has clearly benefited”

It was previously announced that the Grand Prix weekend in the United States was the busiest weekend ever. There were a total of 400,000 spectators spread over the whole weekend. It may have to do with the Netflix series Drive to survive. Of course, the title battle that Verstappen and Hamilton had is also a catalyst for the great popularity that Formula 1 is now enjoying. Wolff also sees the effects of the title fight: ‘interest. Formula 1 has clearly benefited from this.

Wolff is also already considering the future of Formula 1. He doesn’t think Formula 1’s popularity will diminish any time soon. “The sport is hip, the interest is huge and the reach is greater than ever. We have a second race in the United States in 2022 and possibly another in 2023. All signs point to a positive future. New rules should also ensure that the tension in the sport increases again, for example teams have to work under a budget cap and cars will be more equal with each other due to the new regulations.

The balance between the teams will only come after a year

However, it is always possible that during the first year, some teams understand the rules better than others. Wolff is therefore not surprised if there will be differences between the teams in the first year with the new rules. “The budget cap will even out a lot of things. If someone finds a loophole, the other teams will just copy it. The first year there will still be differences, but after that it will balance out. There will not be a team a second faster than the others.

Initially, the big teams were not enthusiastic about the budget cap. They saw their advantage disappear. “Of course the big teams weren’t really happy,” explained the Austrian. But all of Formula 1 has turned into an arms race between Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and us. Now everything will be more balanced. I think in the future there will be five or six teams that can win and that would be good for the sport as well,” concluded Wolff.