Photo: Race Pictures

Mercedes-powered outfit breaks silence on ‘crystal clear’ compression ratio rules

11:31, 13 Feb

Updated: 12:14, 13 Feb

byTobia Elia

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen has weighed in on the debate surrounding Mercedes’ engine compression-ratio ‘trick’.

“My personal view is I'm not concerned about it because I think the regulations are crystal clear on when compression ratio is measured”

- Steve Nielsen

Alpine is one of three Mercedes-powered teams — aside, of course, from the W17 itself — that could potentially benefit from such an advantage in terms of compression ratio, with the French squad opting to part ways with Renault engines starting this season.

Asked about one of the hottest topics of the pre-season, Nielsen told GPblog among other media: “Politics in F1 are... it's kind of new but not really. It's a big regulation change. Some people have gone down one route, other teams have gone down another. My personal view is I'm not concerned about it because I think the regulations are crystal clear on when compression ratio is measured. Some other people are trying to introduce different parameters to that. That's for reasons best known to themselves.”

“We've got full confidence in Mercedes. They've built a PU in good faith with a very clear set of regulations and we're happy with it. We trust the governing body to do the right thing.”

Photo: Race Pictures

Nielsen also believes that if changes can be made to the regulations despite them being clear on what is and isn’t allowed simply because other teams are pushing for it, then everything can be called into question.

“The more fundamental thing for me is the way we're going about it. If we're saying that a very clearly written set of regulations can be challenged in this way, then what else is off limits? Everything's up for discussion then. If a certain set of teams don't like something that's very clearly written, if suddenly you can have a lobby group and change it, then you're in a whole different world.

He also stressed that “people invest an awful lot of time and money, and particularly money, into this, say in good faith, and if suddenly we're going into a world where everything can be challenged, even though it's clearly written, for any reasons other than safety reasons, then I think that's a whole new world. You could say I'm biased because we've got a Mercedes engine in our car, but that's honestly what I believe.”

Finally, Nielsen wrapped up his assessment by posing a direct question to the FIA: “I think the more fundamental question is, 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.”