“Do we go beyond the sport, too much entertainment?": Mercedes boss Toto Wolff addresses the 'sport vs entertainment' debate in F1

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes that F1 should not go beyond sport and delve too much into entertainment.

The pinnacle of motorsport has been accused of becoming too much of a show and less about the racing on track as was evident from all the pre-event criticism from the recently concluded Las Vegas GP.

Speaking with Bloomberg, the Mercedes team principal addressed how the sport has been experimenting with different Sprint formats and adding more lucrative events to the calendar. He said:

“Do we go beyond the sport, too much entertainment? No, I don’t think so. We’re trying different formats with the sprint race weekends and Las Vegas, racing in the night."

"And if it needs calibration to provide a better show while staying true to our values of the honest sport, I think we’ve got to try it. But the core product, the grand prix on Sunday, within the regulations – financial, technical, and sporting – is always what Formula 1 has been all about.”

Mercedes team boss lays out his ambitions for the team

Toto Wolff stated that he did not want to wait till the 2026 season for the new engine regulations to challenge Red Bull for the title. Speaking with RacingNews365, the Mercedes team boss pointed out that he was optimistic about the W15 given the numbers that he saw in the factory, saying:

"The numbers that we are seeing are strong. We are growing on social media, we see that races are packed and sold out, but as a matter of fact, it is all around the spectacle, and if the spectacle is not good, our fans are going to follow us less."

"Whoever is doing the best job wins, and if somebody is doing a much better job, then they win [21] races, and you can't stop that."

Wolff continued:

"Us, Ferrari, and all the other teams have to do a better job to compete with Red Bull and if we can't change anything, then people are going to say [before the race]: 'Well I know the result.' It happened to us with Lewis many years ago but you've just got to do a better job. I don't want to wait until 2026."

Hopefully, the Mercedes W15 will be competitive on the track to help challenge Red Bull for the title next year.