Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen has had enough of the whining by Mercedes’ rivals and has urged them to “put some skin in the game” and act rather than just voice complaints.
At the heart of the storm? The German manufacturer’s power unit and its controversial compression ratio – a "loophole" that Mercedes’ rivals claim gives the Silver Arrows an unfair advantage.
For Nielsen, the unit – which now powers Alpine’s cars – sits firmly within the rulebook, and he has no sympathy for those who seek loopholes to stir controversy.
“They’ve got their right to protest I suppose,” Nielsen told reporters in Bahrain. “We go to Melbourne, and if they really feel that strongly, then put some skin in the game and do something about it.
“I don’t know whether the FIA will express a view on this before Melbourne. I kind of hope they do because I kind of hope the story of Melbourne isn’t about compression ratios.”
Nielsen believes that if Ferrari, Red Bull, or Audi truly think they have a case for illegality, they need to stop whisper-campaigning and start filing paperwork.
“The more fundamental thing for me is the way we’re going about it,” he said. “If we’re saying that a very clear written set of regulations can be challenged in this way, then what else is off limits? Everything’s up for discussion.”
“People invest an awful lot of time and money, and particularly money into this, in good faith. And if suddenly everything can be challenged…then I think that’s a whole new world which we’ve not been in before.
“You could say I’m biased because we’ve got a Mercedes engine in our car, but do we really want a sport where clearly written stuff can just be challenged because people fancy doing it? That’s for the FIA to answer.”
Nielsen added that the regulations are “crystal clear,” accusing rivals of introducing “different parameters to that, and that’s for reasons best known to themselves.”
The message was blunt: if teams think there’s a problem with Mercedes, it’s time to step up – or risk being seen as all talk.
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