Toto Wolff appreciates FIA for taking the ‘right steps’


Toto Wolff appreciates FIA for taking the ‘right steps’

Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes’ team principal, has given his thumbs up to the announcements made by the newly elected FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. FIA, the governing body of F1, had launched an investigation into the Abu Dhabi GP of the 2021 season, and these announcements come as a result of it. Toto expressed his thoughts during the unveiling of the Mercedes W13, the 2022 challenger.

ADVERTISEMENT

Amongst the many important changes, the FIA has announced the removal of Michael Masi as the race director of F1 and has introduced Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas as the directors, who’ll rotate and split this responsibility amongst each other. Also, there will be a Virtual Race Control room, similar to that of football’s VAR. These decisions have been welcomed by Toto Wolff and by extension, the Mercedes team, at the launch event.

As these decisions came to public light, all eyes shifted to Toto Wolff and Mercedes. The team and seven-time F1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton, have felt they were snubbed of the title in 2021 and have had the feeling of dejection since. The aftermath of the controversial Abu Dhabi GP ignited the rumors of Lewis Hamilton retiring from the sport.

Toto Wolff’s thoughts on the changes

Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff

While speaking at the launch of W13, Toto said, “Obviously there was this shadow with the Drivers’ Championship, with Lewis’s Championship and the Abu Dhabi situation but let’s look into the future. I think it is very encouraging to see that action has been taken.”

ADVERTISEMENT

There’s a much more robust structure now and a support structure now for the race director. The FIA has stated that there will be a virtual race control room, state-of-the-art technology, and now the new guys will be in place for the Barcelona test. I think these are the right steps,” added Toto.

Addressing the rumors of Masi’s removal from his position as a contingency to Hamilton’s return to the sport, Toto, in a statement to BBC 5Live said, “No, absolutely not. I think it was for Lewis himself to decide how can I digest the events from Abu Dhabi and the same for the team, and I think we moved on.”

“It’s in the past. It’s not something that we will, in a way, recover, but it wasn’t a condition. I have known Lewis for such a long time, and I wasn’t [concerned about Hamilton quitting], but obviously, this has had such an impact on him. When everything you do is about fairness and justice, and then that happens to you, it is quite difficult, I understand, to cope with that,” concluded Toto.

It’ll be interesting to see how the new rules and regulations help the race directors. However, it is for sure that the 2022 season is already on fire since Abu Dhabi.

ADVERTISEMENT

ALSO READ:‘It gave me goosebumps as the car fired up,’ George Russell in high spirits ahead of Mercedes’ debut season