You are pathetic and disrespectful! This Wolff criticized the other team bosses, their briefing filmed by Netflix. It’s theater, says Horner

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff didn’t mince words in his post-Canadian Grand Prix briefing. He called the other performers disrespectful and pathetic, and the whole thing was filmed by Netflix, which will have some really juicy material for its Drive to Survive series. Wolff was subsequently taken to task by Ferrari and Red Bull team bosses.

After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the teams debated very strongly about the safety and health of their drivers. And this, of course, in the context of what porpoising, or the bouncing of the monoposts on the straights, can do to the drivers.

Mercedes, led by Wolff and Lewis Hamilton, have put a lot of pressure on the FIA. After the race in Baku, the latter found it very difficult to get out of his car and complained of unbearable back pain.

So the FIA reacted by issuing a new directive, but this did not exactly please the Red Bull representatives in particular. Team boss Christian Horner, advisor and head of the driver development programme Helmut Marko and the driver himself Max Verstappen subsequently criticised the FIA’s decision.

The International Automobile Federation has interfered with the technical regulations with this change, and that is simply not something you do in the middle of the season. On our website, specifically in the Motorsport section, you will find several articles on this topic that go into more detail about the FIA’s decision and porpoising.

Each has added their own take on the new directive issued by the FIA before the Canadian Grand Prix, which was supposed to solve the problems associated with porpoising. Marko, for example, accused Mercedes of merely playing politics and suggested that Hamilton’s back problems were not really that serious an issue.

F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali held his regular Saturday coffee meeting with team principals in Montreal, during which there were clashes between the bosses over a newly issued FIA technical directive. Plus, the whole thing was filmed by Netflix.

“The efforts of the team bosses to manipulate what is being said to maintain a competitive advantage and to play political games when the FIA is trying to come up with a quick fix to help the cars is bogus. And that’s what I said,” explains Wolff in an interview with Motorsport.

“I’m not just talking about Mercedes. All the cars in Baku have suffered in one way or another and are suffering here. The cars are too stiff and bouncy, or whatever you want to call it. People will of course ask whether my attitude is sincere or not. That’s why I say it’s not just our problem,” he continues.

“We have long-term consequences that we cannot assess. In any case, it is a security risk. Manipulating in the background, whispering or instructing riders is just pathetic,” he added.

He also noted that a number of other drivers had complained of various problems, whether it was Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen or Daniel Ricciardo.

According to him, the porpoising problems will not be solved by Mercedes raising its monoposto or changing the ground clearance. It won’t change the stiffness of the inherent aerodynamic properties, which he says is due to the return of ground effect to Formula 1.

Horner then suggested to Wolff that the problem was not the rules, but rather their porpoising difficulties lay in the car’s concept. And that it was up to the German constructor to sort things out himself, or rather to sweep his own doorstep.

The Red Bull boss then mentioned that the whole briefing was one big spectacle. So Netlix will have some very juicy material for its fifth series. However, Horner was joined by Otmar Szafnauer (Alpine) and Mattia Binotto (Ferrari) who also criticised Mercedes’ actions.

Other teams were also outraged by the timing of the release of the new directive. Not only did the FIA intervene in the middle of the season, but it published the directive after the teams had already travelled to Montreal.

In conclusion, Horner added that there must be clear processes in place when such decisions are made and gradually start to address the porpoising situation. Such a sudden change is simply unacceptable even according to many experts, even if it does Red Bull no harm.

F1, Motorsport