Toto Wolff threatens Christian Horner and other F1 Team Principals over porpoising in the new season of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’
The Mercedes Team Principal got into a heated argument with Christian Horner and Mattia Binotto over porpoising.
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Toto Wolff and Christian Horner
The Mercedes F1 team got off to an underwhelming start to the new F1 regulations in 2022. The Silver Arrows struggled with porpoising issues on the W13. So much so, that drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had to bear severe pain during some instances. The new season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive finally reveals Toto Wolff’s heated conversations with other team principles.
At the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, the team bosses convened to discuss the porpoising issues. This was a week after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when a fatigued Lewis Hamilton got off the W13 cockpit. Toto Wolff was furious over the safety concerns over this issue. The Mercedes team boss warned his counterparts and said, “I can tell you that all of you are playing a dangerous game.”
The 51-year-old mentioned the actions he would take in case of a lethal accident due to porpoising. Toto said, “If a car ends in the wall because it’s too stiff or it’s bottoming out, you are in the **.” Further, Wolff made his stance clear that the Mercedes team boss would make all of the team bosses pay in such an incident. Toto Wolff declared, “I’m going to come after you.”
“Change your **ing car,” Christian Horner fights back against Toto Wolff’s threats
Interestingly, Red Bull’s Christan Horner enquired the 51-year-old about making a scene for the Netflix crew present in the meeting. Wolff was adamant that this was of no significance. Further, the Mercedes team boss mentioned that the German team was not trying to gain an edge by proposing a solution to porpoising. Toto Wolff said, “I don’t care. If you think this is a little game and performance, I tell you, you are very, very wrong.”
Subsequently, Mattia Binotto, the Ferrari Team Principal, clarified to Toto that fixing porpoising was simply a matter of set-up alterations. Binotto stated, “No, Toto. Safety is a matter of team responsibility, braking system, suspension.” A furious Toto Wolff replied, “Each of you has found something to limit the problem, congratulations!”
An ill-tempered Christian demanded the Mercedes boss make changes to the W13. Horner shouted, “Well change your car. You’ve got a problem. Change your **ing car.” Eventually, F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali tried to cool things down between the team bosses. Later on, the FIA did bring in a directive to limit the vertical oscillations drivers were exposed to in the cockpit.
Thus, the issue of porpoising has been resolved in Formula 1. However, Toto Wolff was not happy with the way his rivals addressed this concern. Wolff and Horner often barge their heads in the press, and this instance provided a much closer perspective. Certainly, Drive to Survive has not disappointed the fans with its latest season as such cases are unraveled.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2310 Articles Published)