Lewis Hamilton has called on F1 to introduce a new rule that could help stifle the potential dominance of one team.
The seven-time F1 champion insists his remarks are “not aimed at any one particular person” at a time when Max Verstappen is cantering to a third successive drivers’ title.
Since the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations at the start of last season, Red Bull has won 25 of the 30 races to date, and Verstappen 21 of those. This season he is already 69 points ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez.
The reign is not too far removed from Mercedes’ control of the sport after new power units were introduced in 2014, leading to the team winning eight consecutive constructors’ titles. Over the first two of those years, Mercedes won 32 of 38 races.
Before then, Red Bull won four constructors’ championships from 2010-2013, whilst Ferrari was dominant for six years from 1999-2004.
At present, the wave of popularity F1 is riding is now beginning to wane as there appears to be no stopping Red Bull and Verstappen.
Offering a suggestion to curtail not only Red Bull’s current superiority but also teams in the future from crushing the opposition, Hamilton said: “Obviously, in my 17 years of being here – and you’ve seen even before I got here – periods of dominance, and it continues to happen.
“I was really fortunate to have one of those periods; Max is having that now. With the way it’s going, it will continue to happen over and over again, and I don’t think we need that in the sport.
“From my personal experience, when you are so far ahead, if you’re 100 points ahead, you don’t really need to do a lot more development on your car, so you can start earlier on your next car.
“And with the budget cap that means spending that year’s money on the next year’s car.
“But if everyone was set a time, for example, if everyone knew when we could start, whatever date it is – August the first, something like that – then no one has a head start, and then it’s a real race in that short space of time for the future car.
“Maybe that would help everyone be closer the following year. I might be wrong, but something’s got to change.
“When we were winning world championships, we could start earlier than everybody else, and then there were teams that weren’t competitive, so they didn’t bother working on that current car.
“It’d be cool to see in the next 20 years that we don’t have huge bands of time where one team is too far ahead because we want to see better racing.”
Hamilton’s remarks, however, drew short shrift from Verstappen when they were put to him.
The Dutch driver said: “A lot of things in life are unfair as well, it’s not only in Formula 1. We just have to deal with it.”
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