Mercedes top executive sees something in banning blue flags

General

19 September 2020 at 10:55
Last update 19 September 2020 at 18:17
  • GPblog.com

James Allison would think it would be a good idea for Formula 1 to say goodbye to the blue flags. It is striking that the Mercedes top man is in favour of this, as his race team has benefited most from the blue flags in recent years.

According to Allison, driving without blue flags makes for better races.

Wolff votes against Allison's idea

"I would like to make one change in the sporting regulations," says the technical director of Mercedes in a YouTube video. "Everyone around me would probably hate me for this. I know Toto would definitely not support it but I would say do away completely with the blue flags."

It would also make things much more exciting behind the scenes. “It would make the races an absolute nightmare for a fast car because as we came up to lap people they wouldn’t get out of our way. We would have to fight our way through them and that would make every race interesting all the way through the race," says Allison. "It would also mean that teams would have to forge alliances with one another and you would have to be very very nervous of teams you’d fallen out with which would make it, politically, incredibly intriguing as well."

Interesting for F1

From the point of view of Mercedes and its successes, this 'new' rule does not need to be introduced soon. “Such a change would be disastrous for us but probably really really interesting in the long term for the sport.”