Dominant team not bad for F1 - Kaltenborn

Sauber team prinicpal Monisha Kaltenborn does not view Mercedes' current dominance in Formula 1 as detrimental to the sport.

The German squad has reigned at the top of Grand Prix racing since the introduction of F1's turbo hybrid era in 2014, achieving 32 wins out 38 championship races, but Kaltenborn believes it's just another cycle of supremacy, of which F1 has known many in its history.

"For me actually, that’s [domination] never been any negative point in our series, because all of us have been in that situation," Kaltenborn explained.

"If you go back to the years of Michael Schumacher, how many years did Ferrari dominate? And look at all the things which were attached to it – tyres were developed for one team, for one driver basically, and you never had these kinds of discussions."

Contradicting those who believe a one-team dominance only instills boredom and dullness into racing, the Sauber dwelled precisely on Ferrari's recent history to explain that a team with a big advantage actually may have a positive impact on the sport.

"There are teams which are liked more by the fans and some which are liked less by the fans," she added.

"But this has got to do with the team, the colour you saw out there in the grandstands was usually red. It was just good for the sport, it was going up like this, if you see in terms of viewers, sponsors, any other commercial deals, so that’s not a problem."

Kaltenborn did acknowledge however that as a prevailing force, Mercedes, or any team in a dominant position, should not abuse of its status in any way to take control of the sport.

"Every team plays their role in F1.To a team like ours, it doesn’t really affect us in that way if one team dominates.

"But it is important that you don’t use that dominance to push the sport in a direction which is maybe not good for the entire sport.

"You have to respect all teams, be it number one, number two or number 10, because everybody has their part to play and everybody contributes to the F1 show."

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