Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes F1 will only move forward if fierce rivalry between manufacturers on the race track is met with respect and cooperation between competitors off it.
At a time when the sport seeks direction and a path to the future, manufacturers need to put their rivalries and self-interests aside in order to move F1 towards a prosperous common goal.
Mercedes and Ferrari are locked in a massive battle for top honors this season but must continue to work together for the greater good of Formula 1 suggests Wolff.
"I’m not going to let the sport ruin a respect that I have for a personality off-track," says the Austrian.
"I like the analogy to rugby: that you can be fierce and tough competitors and trying to punch each other during the match and win with all the necessary emotions, but you’re still able to have a beer afterwards.
"This is the attitude that we’ve had over the years: that we can be fierce competitors and we wouldn’t want to have a coffee during the race with each other.
"But it’s necessary. We are all stakeholders in this giant platform. And if this giant platform is successful, it makes the teams successful and it makes the sport successful and we are all benefiting from this."
F1's transformation is underway insists Wolff, under the guidance of its new owners. Now is the time for change says the Mercedes boss, but it will only occur with concessions and a sense of compromise.
"I think in the past – not only in the past, still today – there are individuals that are very narrow-mindedly focused on Formula 1 as if there was nothing else besides it.
"And the truth is that there are many interests that we share besides the fierce competition on track. And Formula 1 is at a crucial point with new shareholders, with new management.
"We all want the sport to do well and it is necessary that we are capable to sit around a table and discuss the sport, and be able to take our Ferrari or Mercedes or Sauber head off and say what in this particular situation is important for us to understand in term
"And this is the discussion we are having regularly, and this is influencing our relationship."
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