Toto Wolff is the latest to hit out at those complaining about the sport since the regulations overhaul.
Of course, with his two drivers having won all four races and also started from pole on each occasion, one would expect the Austrian to be delighted, though that may change next month when the rule relating to the measurement of the compression ratio changes and the German manufacturer is brought into line with its rivals.
For now however, the Silver Arrows are making hay, and naturally Wolff joins the likes of Domenicali in hitting out at those who dare to voice a negative opinion of the effect of the new regulations.
“If there’s one single person that complains about the race today, I think they should hide, honestly,” said Wolff in the moments after Sunday’s race, a race which certainly had its moments, but once again witnessed ‘fake’ overtaking courtesy of the yo-yoing we’re witnessing this season.
Adding to the drama, of course, and heavily promoted by the broadcasters, with a little assistance from the few radio messages fans are now privy to, was the threat of rain, rain that caused the event to be brought forward three hours but never actually materialised.
“Obviously this track is a little bit easier, it’s not so energy stuffed,” admitted Wolff. “There’s good games and there’s bad games, so I think that was great, great advertising for Formula 1.”
Asked, considering that many, including some of the drivers – at least those not gagged by their teams – about the possibility of changing the energy split from 50/50 to something like 60/40 or even 70/30, Wolff remained unconvinced that significant change is needed.
“Whoever talks about changing engine regs in the short-term should question his way of assessing Formula 1 at that stage,” he said. “Spectacular race. Fight for the lead, fight in the midfield. It’s splendid. Can we tweak it and optimise it in the midterm? I think absolutely. We would never be against making the show even better. I’m thinking about SM modes. I think we need much more straight-line speed with the SM modes. We need to be courageous on doing that.
“In the mid-term we are not opposed. Whether we could extract a bit more performance out of the ICE… great. Give us enough lead time so we can actually do it.”
While it is understandable that Wolff, Domenicali and the rest will defend their product – and having paid £1bn to continue broadcasting it, Sky is absolutely certain to sing F1’s praises to the rafters and beyond – the fact that many remain unhappy cannot be ignored for eventually it will have an impact.
Then again, Domenicali makes much of the fact that the sport is appealing to a new audience, particularly the young and women.
Fans watching throughout the weekend will have noticed that the grandstands were almost empty for the support events, including the F2 races, even though some of those racing will hopefully make it up to F1 some day.
This would suggest that the fans are interested in F1 and F1 alone, and that they are there not for the racing, but the event, the happening, living it through their phone screens and able to show the world ‘I was there’. This, dear Stefano, dear Toto, suggests a passing fad, a fad which will have its time.
Surely it can be no coincidence that the Miami Grand Prix precedes the Met Gala, another event that increasingly attracts the vacuous and the vain.
Finally, one can see why Electronic Arts opted to skip F1 26, everyone, bar Stefano and Toto, perhaps Kimi and Woody, would have wanted their money back.