Decoding 'regulations were changed to end Mercedes dominance' theory by Ted Kravitz

Sky F1 presenter Ted Kravitz caused a furor once again as he alluded to the recent change in technical regulations as a ploy to end Mercedes' dominance.

In a recent episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Kravitz revealed that it was a reasonably commonly held opinion in the paddock that one of the reasons why the rule changes were introduced was to end Mercedes' dominance in F1.

In a quote that has since gone viral, Kravitz was quoted as saying:

"I mean you know there is a reasonably commonly held opinion amongst some people in the paddock that they only change the rules or part of the reason why they changed the rules was to stop Mercedes dominance. Well, that certainly worked, didn't it and they also changed the rules of course FIA and F1 stated that the main aim of changing the rules or stated aim completely was to improve the racing and it did do that to a large degree"

He added:

"But then 2021, the last championship with the old rules, it was decided on the last lap, 2022 it's decided in Japan with 4 races to go so it didn't exactly close up the field in terms of the championship, did it? It meant that Red Bull got it right so much that they are now you know the favorites going in absolutely and I think the dominance will run probably until the next change in technical regulations in 2026.

Now, in this feature, we are going to decode Kravitz's theory and see if there is any credence to it.

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What were the objectives of the new regulations?

Now. before we delve deeper into what Ted Kravitz said, it's better if we first take a look at the logic and motive behind the new regulations. The aim of the new regulations is three-fold. Let's take a look.

#1 Improve wheel-to-wheel racing

One of the major complaints F1 has faced and it pre-dates the Mercedes/Lewis Hamilton dominance era is the lack of "raceability" of the cars.

The turbulent air produced by these intricately designed machines made overtaking/wheel-to-wheeling a major headache.

To cure this, DRS was primarily introduced in 2011 and since then, steps have been taken to improve overtaking in an F1 race.

The new ground-effect cars are a major development on that front and the reason they were introduced was to help the F1 cars follow each other.

#2 Use the 'budget cap' to make the sport more sustainable

Excessive budgets to compete in F1 have never been a concern for teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes.

However, for potential teams from the outside looking in, these huge budgets and hence the expenses involved were a major concern.

To placate that and have a more even field, the budget cap was introduced.

#3 Prescriptive regulations to close up the field

The regulations introduced for the 2022 F1 season are somewhat prescriptive in the sense that there aren't too many areas where a team can find major gains and establish a huge lead over its competitors.

The aim behind this was to bunch the field together and reduce the performance gaps in F1.

Have they been achieved?

Now, looking back at the objectives, let's take a look at whether these have been achieved.

#1 Improve wheel-to-wheel racing

There is a marked improvement in the quality of wheel-to-wheel racing with the new regulations.

On tracks like Hungary, where it used to be almost impossible to overtake, now that's not the case as cars are able to follow more closely.

Have we reached the ideal scenario in terms of wheel-to-wheel racing? Not really, as we still need DRS to complete overtakes in a bulk of the circuits.

Having said that, there's still a marked improvement from what we had in the past.

Verdict: Yes, it has been achieved

#2 Use the 'budget cap' to make the sport more sustainable

The budget cap has been a true revelation. It has not only improved the health of teams like Haas and Williams, for whom whatever money they raised was never enough.

To add to this, Audi is making a return to the sport and one of the reasons it attributed its return was the introduction of the budget cap.

Verdict: Yes, this has been a success

#3 Prescriptive regulations to close up the field

In all fairness, this hasn't happened. We need to see what the gaps will be this season, but on the evidence, the first season showed that the gaps were still there.

The two-tier F1 system still exists with Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, the front, and then the midfield.

Verdict: No, this hasn't happened yet

Did they compromise Mercedes?

If we look at it based on the results, yes, it did. Mercedes was a title contender with the previous regulation and in the new one, it has only one win to its name.

Mercedes was one of the major spenders in the F1 pre-budget cap era, and it can be assumed that the team being forced to spend less has had an impact on car development.

Even this season, it does appear that the car is not a frontrunner at the start of the season and Mercedes is playing catch-up.

Hence, if we look at it primarily on the basis of results, it's safe to say that Mercedes has been compromised in the new regulations.

What is Ted Saying?

Now, let's take a look at what Ted is saying. In essence, it can be broken down into the following points:

1. Belief in the paddock that rules were changed to stop Mercedes' dominance
2. F1 and FIA claim the change was to improve racing, and it was achieved
3. The championship in 2021 went to the last race, which didn't happen in 2022
4. Red Bull is carrying the advantage into this season and could dominate until 2026

The argument in favor of Ted's comments

In retrospect, there are a few things that Ted says that hold ground. The first is the fact that the 2022 F1 season still saw single-team domination and the championship ended a few races early.

The second point that does hold credence is his view that Red Bull has got a jumpstart over the rest of the field and has taken that advantage into the 2023 F1 season.

It's safe to say that these statements are somewhat accurate and Ted is probably reflecting a sentiment that a chunk of the F1 fanbase might have.

The argument against Ted Kravitz's comments

Now, coming to the more critical part of this piece. It's hard to agree with what Ted Kravitz said in its entirety. There are major flaws in his argument and the deeper we look, the more profound they appear.

First of all, the notion that 'ending Mercedes' dominance' was the aim is just preposterous.

Has the German team been compromised because of the new regulations? Yes, it has been. We've established that earlier. But were they targeted? No!

Mercedes' failure is down to the team's underperformance and nothing else. The team messed up the car design in the new technical regulations.

It went with a radical design that has more or less proved to be a flop. If that's not a planned action by the FIA or F1, if one thinks it is, then he's probably overestimating those organizations.

Next, coming to the new regulations, Kravitz is right in his assertion that the championship was probably not as competitive as it was in 2021.

However, comparing fully mature technical regulations in 2021 with a technical regulation at a nascent stage in 2022 is an unfair comparison altogether.

Finally, as we showed earlier as well, two out of three objectives of the regulations have already been accomplished and they make F1 a better sport by improving racing and enticing new players.

If Mercedes has fallen behind not only Red Bull but Ferrari as well then it's on the team, not F1 or the FIA.

Conclusion

After a deep dive into Ted Kravitz's comments about Mercedes being somehow targeted by the regulation change, it's safe to say that they don't hold much weight at the moment.

It's important here that we differentiate between the words "consequence" and "objective". Mercedes falling out of title contention is a consequence of the new regulations, but it was never the objective, to begin with.