Toto Wolff fires X-rated blast after ‘illegal’ claims he brands ‘another nonsense’

Toto Wolff has hit back at ‘bull****’ being circulated about Mercedes ahead of the new Formula 1 season.

The major debate heading into the Australian Grand Prix next month is around Mercedes managing to change the compression ratio.

Compression ratio is the difference between the maximum and minimum during the compression stage in an engine.

F1 rules state that the maximum an engine can be 16:1, but Mercedes rivals believe they’ve somehow managed to create an engine that boosts it to 18:1.

Now, this all sounds very complicated, but what it essentially means is that the German manufacturers will have a power advantage.

It has been estimated that it could shave as much as 0.3 seconds off per lap, which when you are dealing with such fine margins is huge.

In response to any claims that Mercedes are essentially cheating have been dismissed by Team Principal Wolff.

He also had to answer questions on the fuel.

Mercedes’ fuel is supplied by Petronas, and it hasn’t been approved by the FIA yet.

Speaking about the compression ratio debate and the fuel, he hit back, saying: “This is another of these stories. We were told compression ratio is something that we were illegal [on], which is total bull****, utter bull****.

“Now, the next story comes out that our fuel is illegal.

“I don’t know where that comes from, and it starts spinning again. Maybe tomorrow we invented something else … I don’t know, I’ve been on the Epstein files.

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“I don’t know what else to say. Another nonsense. This [fuel] is a complicated topic and the process and all of this, but there’s just not … I can’t even comment.”

Controversial

Due to these rumours, there is set to be a vote on compression ratio is set to take place.

This would see a device installed on engines to measure the ratio and ensure that it’s correct.

However, that piece of technology isn’t going to become available until the second half of the season.

As a result, George Russell has been touted as favourite for the 2026 campaign.

Equally, Mercedes have form in producing excellent cars and power units at the time of regulation changes.

In the early stages of testing, it’s unclear who has the best car, though.

Ferrari have an advantage so far, but Red Bull and Mercedes have also enjoyed good long runs.

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Confident

Lewis Hamilton didn’t enjoy the greatest debut season for Ferrari, failing to win a race.

But he is energised ahead of the new year.

Speaking at Bahrain pre-season testing, he said: “I spent a lot of time rebuilding over this winter, refocusing, really getting my body and my mind to a much better place.

“I generally feel personally in the best place that I’ve been in a long time with rearranging things within my team.

“Last year we were locked into a car that ultimately I inherited.

“This is a car that I’ve been able to be a part of developing on the simulator for the last 10 months, eight months and so like a bit of my DNA is within it, so I’m more connected to this one for sure.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be an overnight thing where we’d have success immediately, that’s why I signed a longer deal because I knew it was a process and I feel like we’ve also learned a huge amount from last year as a team.”