Wolff: Our task to beat Red Bull, not create scripted series

Wolff was speaking in a recent interview with CNBC's Squawk on the Street, and was asked whether the current dominance of Max Verstappen comes at the detriment of sport, with the outcome of every race almost certain before it even happens.

It is not the first time these kind of discussions come up, as F1 has featured eras of dominance by various teams over the course of its history.

Mercedes themselves dominated the sport between 2014 and 2021 when the won an unprecedented eight F1 Constructors' Titles. The same applies to Red Bull's previous dominant streak with Sebastian Vettel between 2010 and 2013, also keeping in mind the Ferrari era of dominance with Michael Schumacher between 2000 and 2004.

Wolff said: "I think people want variability and unpredictability, but in our business, entertainment follows sport. With rules, and the one who is beating everybody else under the current rules just merits the win.

"Clearly we would like to have more different winners but it's our task to beat them and not create a scripted series," he rightly insisted.

"We’ve done a few mis-steps on the engineering side, on our technical decisions," he added referring to Mercedes' current slump in form. "But it’s physics, not mystics, and therefore we will be coming back.

"We’ve had a good result last weekend [at Barcelona] finishing second and third and it’s just a matter of time to catch up, I have no doubt about it," the Austrian maintained. How about this weekend in Canada?

Online betting experts, Betway have Verstappen as 1/3 outright favourite, with Perez at 5/1 and a handy bet should Max hit trouble, making the race in Montreal ripe for a nice haul for brave punters.

If the reigning F1 World Champion was out of the equation for Sunday's race (eg. a DNS or DNF) the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and, of course, Perez in the other RBR offer potentially big opportunities.

Wolff insists that the current cost cap plays a role in hindering Mercedes' recovery, as they are not can't throw money at the car development like before, insisting profit makes way for performance.

"I would give up every profit just to win on track," he said. "For a normal business owner that may sound crazy but it’s how we are calibrated. It’s the stopwatch that counts, less so the P&L [profit and loss].

"Now the cost cap has changed everything in our environment and we’re not allowed to spend above a certain amount, and therefore [we have] become a sustainable business case as well.

"Mercedes dominated for a long time, we won eight consecutive championships, and now Red Bull is just doing a better job.

"It’s a meritocracy, best engineering wins, and as long as you respect the rules – the technical, sporting, and financial rules – we just need to stretch ourselves and beat them," Wolff concluded.

Mercedes have recently upgraded their W14 and shown significant improvement over the weekend of the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finishing second and third respectively behind Verstappen.

Their upcoming test is this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.