Not everyone was unanimous about the FIA’s technical policy on porpoises as things heated up at Saturday’s Formula 1 team principals’ meeting in Montreal.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff chided the others for “pathetic” behavior and added that they were guilty of “background manipulation”. According to the BBC, it was a “bust with Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto.”
“Team bosses trying to manipulate what is said to retain the competitive edge and trying to play political games when the FIA is trying to find a quick fix to at least put the cars in a better position is insincere,” he said later on Saturday, per Reuters.
Horner, in particular, has been open about his thoughts on the porpoise and the intervention. In case you missed it, the FIA issued a technical guideline to Formula 1 teams last week after drivers raised safety and health concerns about the porpoises they are targeting this season, particularly in Baku. have felt. The governing body acted quickly, deeming it “necessary to intervene to require teams to make the necessary adjustments to reduce or eliminate this phenomenon”.
“Ferrari presented their position on the TD and Toto is pushing for a change in the regulations – which is a bit ironic because his car looked pretty fast [during Sunday’s race in Canada] with not much impact,” Horner said, per ESPN. “And I think it was just made clear to him that maybe his problems are within rather than all of them.”
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The team boss was then asked if it was good that Netflix filmed the meeting. The crew is filming for the next season of the docuseries Drive to survive.
“I think there was an element of theatrics going on at that meeting,” Horner replied, per Autosport. “So maybe with the new movie that’s coming out, Lewis will get the part for him
Part of the directive issued on Thursday allowed a second stay between the ground and the main body of the car, which Mercedes were the only team to drive during Friday’s practice session. It was removed for third practice, qualifying and the Canadian Grand Prix.
Horner said: “What was particularly disappointing was the second stay because that needs to be discussed in a technical forum and is openly geared towards solving the problems of a team that was the only team to come here even leading up to TD . So work that out.”
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