Nico Rosberg fears F1 chiefs have taken wrong turn with next year's rule changes

28 April 2016 04:23

World championship leader Nico Rosberg fears Formula One's powerbrokers have taken the wrong direction as the deadline to determine next year's rules rapidly approaches.

The sport's hierarchy have until Friday evening to vote on a new set of regulations for 2017 which, it is hoped, will spice up the show and halt the decline in falling television audiences.

Faster, wider and more-aggressive looking cars have already been agreed in principal, but the drivers, and indeed some of the teams, are against such a move.

The Grand Prix Drivers' Association, of which the majority of the grid are members, recently voiced their concerns in an open letter which took aim at the "obsolete and ill-structured" governance of the sport.

They are also worried that plans to increase downforce from next season will actually lead to less overtaking, and thus equate to a poorer spectacle.

Rosberg, who leads team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 36 points after winning the opening three rounds of the championship, said: "Our opinion was that it's not the right direction to go and we were hoping that they would definitely re-look into it.

"Now all we can do is accept it, make the most of it, and hope that there are going to be some surprises."

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, expressed his concerns in China that the proposed changes will lead to one team dominating the sport.

Mercedes have won 35 of the last 41 grands prix, while also sewing up successive driver and team titles, and they are on course to complete a hat-trick in 2016.

But Ferrari appear to be ever closer to catching the Silver Arrows, while Red Bull, who enjoyed a similarly dominant spell between 2010 and 2013, have also raised their game over the winter.

Indeed the first three rounds of the championship in Australia, Bahrain and China, have been among the most entertaining to a new campaign in recent times.

Hamilton, the triple world champion, has long been a critic of the direction the sport is taking, and on Thursday, he voiced his concerns once more.

"My view hasn't changed," Hamilton, in his 10th season in Formula One, said. "I feel the same about it as I did before. I have to be careful with what I say but it is not great.

"We'll do the best job we can with it - I know my guys will do an exceptional job with it - but it doesn't change anything.

"When you change something but you know it's not going to make a difference, you hope that you are wrong. You hope that the engineers who know what's going to happen - I hope they are proven wrong.

"If they aren't, then we're stuck in that period for three years and for the fans it doesn't get any better. But those guys who made the decision have to live with it".

Source: PA