Is Mercedes' advantage damaging for F1?

Formula 1 needs close competition to fascinate people as fans are bored by the lack of competition. That is the view of several experts, insiders and drivers.

While agreeing that Mercedes can not be blamed for having built a dominant car with a superior power unit inside, many believe that the form of domination not seen in recent decades, massively hurts Formula 1.

Former Formula 2 champion and commentator Andy Soucek was shocked by the difference between Mercedes and its rivals.

"I did not like it and I did not enjoy it. We all knew that Mercedes would dominate this year but we saw how far away Red Bull Racing and McLaren are, and although Ferrari is better this year, not much better," insisted Soucek.

Force India driver Sergio Perez thinks the problem is that long before the season kicked off, it was clear that Mercedes was going to dominate.

"It’s sad," said Perez, "when already at the start of the season it is clear how superior Mercedes will be. It’s not good for the fans to spend a lot of money for their tickets to see a competition."

Double champion Mika Hakkinen does not want to blame Mercedes for doing a superior job, but conceded it robs the excitement fans want to get from the sport.

“Sure, in the eyes of some viewers it is boring, but that’s not Mercedes’ fault.”

Even the always-smiling Daniel Ricciardo admitted that the Mercedes dominance kills the spectacle of Formula 1.

"I feel a bit for the fans," said Ricciardo. The first race "was a boring race."

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel also conceded that the current situation is not ideal for the fans.

“For sure it’s not great for the people”, said Sebastian.

The question is now what Formula 1 needs to do to make the on-track action spectacular. Red Bull’s Christian Horner called on the FIA to intervene an equalization mechanism. This could result in very different solutions. Many other motorsport series use such systems to boost less competitive outfits and handicap the leading teams. On the other hand, FIA could also investigate what the real technical strengths of Mercedes are and try to control them.

“Mercedes, take nothing away from, they’ve done a super job: they’ve got a good car, a fantastic engine and they’ve got two very good drivers,” said Horner. "The problem is the gap is so big. You end up with three-tier racing and I think that’s not healthy for Formula 1.”

However, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff does not want to hear from any moves which could result in shrinking of their competitive advantage.

“If you come into Formula 1 and you try to beat each other, or perform on the highest level, and equalisation is what you need after the first race, and you cry out after the first race, it’s not how we’ve done things in the past and not how we’ve moaned.”

“There is this wall in Jerusalem where you can stand in front and complain. Maybe I should go there.”

Red Bull seems to be in a weird situation as their possible allies Ferrari and Honda are a bit reluctant to set the political field of Formula 1 afire.

"Our job is to attack Mercedes on the track," said team boss Maurizio Arrivabene, "not to change the rules."