Mercedes could dominate more in 2017 - Wolff

Toto Wolff warns Mercedes could dominate F1 more in 2017 as a result of a major regulation change.

Mercedes has so far won 35 of the 41 races since the introduction of new power unit regulations in 2014, with only Ferrari and Red Bull - with three victories each - also winning in that time. 2017 is set to see a new set of regulations introduced which Wolff has been opposing and the Mercedes boss insists he is not trying to protect his team's advantage but rather allow others to catch up.

"My opinion was always that the longer you leave the rules alone, the field will come together and performance converges," Wolff said. "It is clear other teams out there will be saying it is clear why Mercedes want to leave the rules as they are because we are doing well… it is actually the opposite.

"If we have a rule change, I think we have a good place with our structure that is roaring to do it again, so from that principle, we believe there is an inherent risk of the race being more boring.

"The car looks spectacular and wide – I can hide under the diffuser – and it is going to have much more downforce and go much quicker through the corners. Unfortunately it has an air wake behind the car that will make the problem bigger than we have this year.

"The moment you approach, you lose downforce, you start to slide the tyre, and it cooks the tyres and you can’t overtake. Let’s see what happens, I would prefer to stay where we are and I can understand some teams want to roll the dice. We have to take it as it is."

REPORT: Rosberg takes pole as ERS problem hits Hamilton

AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Exclusive Valtteri Bottas Q&A

Romain Grosjean column: Haas brought back down to earth

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.