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Tensions ran high in the paddock as Toto Wolff argued with Red Bull and Ferrari whilst Netflix filmed Drive to Survive.
Among the paddock, talk of porpoising has caused a lot of controversy with teams and drivers disagreeing. Most recently, there have been comments over the FIA’s directive to reduce porpoising.
Red Bull were particularly against this as they are not as affected by it as other teams such as Mercedes. Max Verstappen spoke out about this, saying that he doesn’t think it’s “correct” because it would be “rule changes in the middle of the year.”
With tension between teams, it has been reported that Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes, was furious during a meeting. The meeting took place before qualifying last weekend in Canada.
The Brackley outfit have suffered the worst when it comes to porpoising. We even saw Lewis Hamilton struggle to get out of the W13 in Baku, when the issue was particularly bad. They have been the most vocal to the FIA and media regarding the issues.
George Russell who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GDPA) have supported the FIA’s directive. He had major concerns over porpoising and supports the FIA with their regard to drivers’ safety. But it could be argued he supports it because he is in a car that suffers from it badly.
Teams on the grid have claimed that Mercedes are trying to level the playing field to give them more of an advantage by raising the issue of porpoising. Toto Wolff dismissed this.
The Team Principal hit back saying that these other teams are putting performance and their own personal interests ahead of safety. This caused tensions to reach an all-time high when Wolff clashed with Mattia Binotto and Christian Horner.
It has since emerged that this battle of Wolff vs Horner and Binotto took place in front of Netflix. The streaming service were at the time filming the next season of Drive to Survive.
No quotes from this argument have been released yet, but it could prove to be a very interesting and tense season among the paddock.
The next round is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 1st to 3rd. Whether Mercedes will suffer bad porpoising there is yet to be seen, but it will surely still be talk in the world of F1.
Feature Image Credit: GettyImages
