Toto Wolff has agreed with his Ferrari counterpart Fred Vasseur that the Miami Grand Prix represents a \u201crestart\u201d in the current Formula 1 season.<\/p>\n
The war in the Middle East has had knock-on effects across the globe and in the Formula 1 world, it has been most keenly felt by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix.<\/p>\n
Toto Wolff supports Fred Vasseur Miami GP claim<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n The confirmation that both events would be cancelled after both countries were hit by Iranian missiles left the Formula 1 calendar with a five-week break between races and an unexpected early season break.<\/p>\n The teams last took to the track in Japan and will not do so again until early May in the Miami Grand Prix and unlike the summer break, which limits factory work in order to give staff a rest, mechanics and engineers have had free reign to work on the car in this period.<\/p>\n For that reason, Ferrari boss Vasseur suggested the F1 season from Miami and beyond could be entirely different from the one we have experienced thus far.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Miami onwards, there will probably be another championship,\u201d Vasseur said in Japan.<\/p>\n \u201cStarting from Miami, a new championship will begin; we need to keep focusing on ourselves and rack up as many points as possible,<\/p>\n \u201cThe season will be very long and the pace of progress just as relentless, so we mustn\u2019t let the current situation intimidate us.\u201d<\/p>\n One man hoping that won\u2019t be the case is Toto Wolff after his team amassed 135 in the opening three races, 45 more than second-place Ferrari.<\/p>\n But even he did admit that Miami could be a \u201crestart\u201d for the championships.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could well be the case,\u201d he said when presented with Vasseur\u2019s comments. \u201cPeople have learned now, the teams have learned. Drivers are starting to learn how to optimise these systems to their benefit, and we\u2019ve seen that first indication [in Japan].<\/p>\n \u201cWhat looked like a home run in the first two races, isn\u2019t the case, as we\u2019ve always warned.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then, yeah, Miami is going to be for me a restart. Also how are the upgrades going to work that people are bringing, and how have we optimised all the other systems. It\u2019s going to be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite their advantage, Wolff has insisted Mercedes need to keep their \u201cfeet on the ground\u201d given we are only three races into the season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re three races in, we\u2019re looking like the heroes but three races from now on, people could be saying, well, no heroes anymore, because the others got stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I wouldn\u2019t want at that stage to compare the successful era with what we started here, but definitely we never stopped believing that we would eventually land a car and build the structures that can do that with the right drivers, and to see that finally coming together is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n