“We’ve had enough PR crisis in the last couple of weeks” – Toto Wolff does not want to have Sergio Perez’s Monaco qualifying crash investigated amidst Red Bull controversies
Follow Us
Toto Wolff
The Red Bull Formula 1 team has been in the news for the wrong reasons lately. With Max Verstappen‘s refusal of giving a position to teammate Sergio Perez, the Dutchman and the team has suffered a strong backlash from fans and critics alike, forcing the team to issue a statement clarifying that Max took that stance because of an incident earlier this year, this incident is believed to be Sergio Perez’s crash during qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, which took away the Dutch driver’s shot at pole position, but this has not been confirmed by Perez or the team.
This has brought some attention towards the incident with drivers even calling for penalties to avoid drivers to crash for personal gains. Toto Wolff has not had the best of relations with Red Bull, especially after the 2021 title fight and the last lap fiasco at Abu Dhabi, yet when asked about having an investigation over the Monaco crash, the Mercedes boss replied, “We’ve had enough PR crisis in the last couple of weeks around the team and if we don’t need another one,” signalling his desire to avoid more drama as the season comes to an end.
As the 2022 F1 season is about to wrap up, Wolff and other teams look to finish the season off and focus on the oncoming challenges in 2023 rather than digging up old incidents and causing more harm and drama than good. McLaren team principal Zak Brown also agreed with Toto and said “I think Monaco was a long time ago and suddenly talking about Monaco, I think that trains left the station.” Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto also agreed with this view and wants to “discuss what we should do in that type of situations because I don’t think there is a clear answer right now.”
Toto Wolff defends Sergio Perez over deliberate crash at Monaco
Wolff has expressed his views about the qualifying incident and his faith in the Mexican driver, the German said, “I know Sergio for a long time,” he continued, “would a driver really put his car in the wall and risk his gearbox because he could be going all the way to the back of the grid,” referring to the severity of the crash which could have damaged Perez‘s gearbox, resulting in the Mexican starting from the back of the field for the race.
Toto further explained how a deliberate crash would have been different, he said, “So if you want to park your car you do it in a different way.” It is clear that the whole F1 paddock is against investigating the incident at Monaco, rather the teams and drivers look to prevent any such cases in the future by cracking down on drivers who crash in qualifying.
Toto Wolff also stated his approval for the deletion of lap times, something which is done in many series such as Formula E. This controversy may have started as a feud between teammates but it seems to open up a much bigger issue in the sport, let’s hope that we do see changes that prevent any chance of such a repeat in the future.
Stay Updated!
FS Desk
(8023 Articles Published)