Mercedes has suggested a "reform" of the rules regarding Formula 1 teams sharing wind tunnels after suspicions about the 2022 Haas car.

As the sport begins a new era of car regulations, the topic of alliances between teams has been rumbling on behind the scenes with the ever-controversial ties between Haas and Ferrari once again in the spotlight.

The American outfit has been a revelation in 2022, scoring points in two of the opening three races after giving up the entirety of last year to focus on developing this year's car.

Also Read:

• Haas targets regular points finishes in 2022 season
• Ferrari insists Haas remains 'independent' as staff set up Maranello base

It is well-known that Haas buys all non-listed parts from Ferrari but in addition, the team also set up a design base at Maranello last year and hired several former Ferrari staff, including Simone Resta as technical director.

All of which has reportedly raised the suspicions of several teams, including Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer.

"It's a small team that's done well over the winter, from last to sometimes third-fastest team and it's a bit surprising," he said via GPFans.

"I thought that the pecking order would stay almost the same because generally, in a big regulation change, over the years that I've been in Formula 1, the bigger the regulation change, the more it favours those with know-how and the infrastructure and the tools to actually exploit the new rules.

"So, it's a bit surprising that the Haas are where they are for a small team but I trust the FIA will investigate and come to the right conclusion between how similar the two cars are."

More broadly too, the former Aston Martin boss believes that the current rules may not be enough to prevent wind tunnel data from being shared between teams.

“I’ve seen solutions on a couple of cars that you’d think ‘how the hell did two independent teams come up with that?’," he said.

“I still think there are some loopholes where people who share tunnels can exploit.

“If you’re sharing tunnels and you’re in the same place at the same time and you’re having coffee with other aerodynamicists, there are ways to exploit it.

“I don’t know how to solve it but I think an even playing field within Formula 1 is something that is important.

“We have to work with the FIA to solve that because like I said, you guys too can have a look out there and think how did these two teams independently come up with that solution, especially when there’s a rule change.

“Nobody knows what the solutions are going to be until you see them, so how did you come up with that?

“In time, people look and try it in the tunnel but not right out of the box. An even playing field is important.”

Ironically, Szafnauer's former team was embroiled in a similar controversy in 2020, when the then-Racing Point outfit made a near carbon-copy of Mercedes' 2019 car.

And with questions over team partnerships continuing, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is open to putting in further safeguards.

"I think it needs reform," he said.

"We want to avoid these kinds of discussions that we have now, the polemic around the last few days or last few weeks, everybody deserves to perform well, and people should get credit when they've done a good job.

"But some of the job-hopping or entity-hopping on the same premises is just creating arguments that are not necessary for the sport.

"So definitely for us, you know, we have Aston Martin in the wind tunnel that we had two years ago. Quite a shitstorm about that. We have been handling them with the utmost diligence.

"But going forward, if we were to need to compromise our, let's say, income ability, we need to do this, because none of the teams should be able to cooperate in a way that we're seeing today, with some of the teams."