“Bono, my voice is gone,” Twitter shows no mercy as Toto Wolff misses qualifying day in Monaco after losing his voice

“Bono, my voice is gone,” Twitter shows no mercy as Toto Wolff misses qualifying day in Monaco after losing his voice

Toto Wolff

As we move further into the Monaco Grand Prix, many surprises are springing up, and another one comes from Mercedes, other than their porpoising; Toto Wolff would not be attending the qualifying session. 

Mercedes have had a rollercoaster of emotions going through the practice sessions at Monaco. During the Spanish GP, Mercedes had almost no porpoising and finished much higher than everybody anticipated, and it looked like they were back in the game. But the practice sessions in Monaco now say otherwise. 

Mercedes seemingly have the porpoising back as they struggle yet again to make impressive laptimes; however, they couldn’t even come close to the top 3, which were in control of the Red Bulls and Ferraris. 

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Just as FP3 kicked in, it came to our knowledge that Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes would NOT be attending the qualifying session, as he has some issues with his throat, and is unable to speak, apparently. The Austrian would not be present in the garage to watch any of his drivers set times during the session. He also missed the media duties as he was at home, and meanwhile Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineer, took his place.

Also read: “We will allow them to race,” Toto Wolff makes his intentions clear about possible team orders for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell

Twitter jokes upon the absence of Toto from the paddock. 

Toto Wolff breaking his headphones during the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP
Toto Wolff breaking his headphones during the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP

While this was going on, users on Twitter were already taking advantage of the opportunity and cracking some of the most creative jokes. One of them even read, “Bose headphones will be happy today,” referring to what happened in the Saudi Arabian GP last year when Toto broke his headphones.

His mere absence could be a blow to both the British drivers in the car, as he is always helping with the analysis, and qualifying is an important day for the team principal to be present in the garage. 

The cars are already bouncing so much that Hamilton said he might need some protection inside the car during FP2. 

The end of FP3 saw Hamilton going only 7th fastest, almost nine-tenths behind the leader, Sergio Perez. George Russell held on to P9 after going exactly a second later than Checo. 

Also read: Lewis Hamilton on winning a potential eighth F1 title: “Of course I believe it”

Also read: “Maybe I’ll quit Formula 1 after 2028,” Max Verstappen wishes to expand his horizon after his contract ends with Red Bull