Red Bull boss Christian Horner quarreled with Toto Wolff at team managers' meeting in Canada and accused rival of doing "theater" in front of Netflix cameras
The FIA's new Technical Directive on vertical oscillations of Formula One cars came up even before the Canadian Grand Prix, but it continues to yield results even after Max Verstappen's victory in Montreal. The much talked about meeting between the team bosses, which included a public exchange of barbs between Toto Wolff, Mattia Binotto and Christian Horner, was recorded by Netflix cameras preparing the new season of 'Drive to Survive'. And it even yielded a provocation from the Red Bull boss.
"I think there was an element of theater in that meeting," Horner teased. "Maybe with Lewis [Hamilton]'s new film coming up, he can involve Toto [Wolff] in the project. As a meeting, it was a shame... I'm trying to choose my words carefully," the Red Bull boss joked.
The discussion revolved, of course, around changes in the rules to decrease the cars' quikiness. The standoff was between Wolff and Binotto, but became involved with the Briton at a certain point and yielded further provocations from the Red Bull boss - especially after Mercedes achieved a good result in Canada with their cars in third and fourth places.
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"Obviously, Ferrari has put its position regarding the Technical Directive," Horner said. "And Toto is campaigning to change the rules, which is ironic, because his car looked quite fast [in Canada], without a lot of quibbles. And I think it's just been pointed out to him that maybe his problems are coming from inside [the car], rather than being everybody else's problems," he pointed out.
Finally, Horner spoke specifically about the Mercedes car and said he believes the problem lies in the concept used by the German team in building the W13, rather than the new 2022 set of rules. As an argument, the Brit claimed that his drivers have not been bothered by the oscillations so far.
"The problem with Mercedes is more severe, or has been, than with any other car," he said. "Certainly, it's up to the team [to fix it]. It's in their power to deal with it. I know it's been said that other drivers are complaining, but ours have never complained about the quiques. The problem is that they are setting the car up too stiff. I think the problem is the concept, not the rules," Horner concluded.