The days of diplomacy are over, Toto Wolff said after the Brazilian Grand Prix. He had really tried, but his team AMG Mercedes had taken too many regulatory blows during the race weekend in São Paulo. Wrongly, he thought. “I’ve always been very diplomatic in how I discuss things. But diplomacy has come to an end as of today,” said the team manager of reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Wolff could have omitted that explanation, because it was clear to everyone that the mood in his pit box was running high. “Great job, Lewis. fuck them all,” Wolff shouted over the radio after Hamilton had moved from the last starting position to fifth position in Saturday’s sprint race. On Sunday, after Hamilton passed Max Verstappen for the lead in the feature race, the cameras captured a primordial cry from Wolff very sharply.
The race weekend in Brazil was a reminder that the Formula 1 World Cup is not just a battle between two top drivers who do not give each other an inch. It is also a battle between two seasoned team bosses: the British Christian Horner of Red Bull Racing and the Austrian Toto Wolff of AMG Mercedes. In São Paulo, that battle reached a new boiling point, aided by some controversial decisions by the race stewards who must steer every grand prix on the right track.
Dishonest behavior
Both camps have regularly accused each other of unfair and dishonest behavior throughout the season, assisted or not by officials of the FIA motorsport federation. After Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification, Wolff expressed his dismay at the fact that his leader was robbed of the fastest qualifying time. The defective rear wing on the Mercedes could have been easily repaired, but the stewards did not want that, much to Wolff’s dismay.
Because, he reasoned, wasn’t Red Bull allowed to repair Pérez’s wing in Mexico during training? Class Justice. What Wolff left unmentioned is that Pérez’s car was never declared illegal, but Hamilton’s was. Of course Wolff knows that himself, but the Mercedes boss is well aware of one of the rules of thumb in the PR profession: lying is never allowed, but it can sometimes be advantageous not to immediately put all relevant facts on the table.
In the end, the report presented by Technical Delegate Jo Bauer after the scrutineering was crystal clear: Hamilton’s car “did not meet” the requirements for the DRS system on the rear wing. In contrast to violations of the sporting regulations, in which the judgment and interpretation of the stewards far outweighs the penalty, the technical regulations are based on a binary principle. Just like you can’t be a little bit pregnant or a little bit dead, a car can’t be a little bit regulatory. The fact that the Mercedes was only 0.2 millimeters outside the regulations is irrelevant.
When asked about Hamilton’s disqualification, Christian Horner played the murdered innocence and repeated that line of thought: illegal is illegal, there was little Red Bull could do about that either. That his team undoubtedly lobbied behind the scenes to achieve this result, of course, went unmentioned in the press moments with Horner.
Spice Girls
Watching the ongoing feud from somewhat neutral ground, one sees two highly experienced and successful team managers who, like their drivers, go all the way to claim the world title. Driven as they are, they probably don’t know any different. They therefore have more similarities than appears at first glance. Both men know what it is like to dominate Formula 1 and what it takes to do so: Horner and Red Bull did it between 2010 and 2013 with Sebastian Vettel, Wolff and Mercedes have been the formation to beat since 2014 with especially Lewis Hamilton and until a few years ago Nico Rosberg.
Both have a well-known woman as life partner: Wolff is married to Susie (maiden name Stoddart), a Scottish who, like her husband, is a team manager in motorsport (in her case in Formula E). In addition, she is the last female race car driver to compete during a grand prix weekend. Horner’s wife Geri (née Halliwell) was world famous in the 1990s as one of the five Spice Girls, the pop group that convinced an entire generation of girls that anything is possible if you dream big enough. Since then, she has continued to grow as an artist, actress and philanthropist.
Both regularly massage the truth, as the controversy in Brazil demonstrates. But where Horner almost always behaves correctly and shows little emotion, no matter how villainous his statements can be, Wolff is a more emotionally driven person. He is sometimes reminiscent of Calimero, the chick from the cartoon of the same name who believes that the whole world is against him and that everything is, above all, very unfair. Wolff likes to pretend that he is more Catholic than Pope Francis himself, and that only he and Mercedes are regularly treated with great injustice. Horner, of course, thinks otherwise.
Internet meme Karen
But anyone who thinks that the Red Bull boss has an edge in the British press and fans due to his calm appearance and nationality will be disappointed: just like in the Netherlands, in Great Britain it is mainly the drivers who determine the rhetorical trenches. And so, despite his Austrian passport, Wolff is part of Camp Hamilton, while Horner, as Max Verstappen’s employer, is automatically the ‘enemy’. Moreover, Wolff is at least authentic, something that is sometimes more difficult to determine with Horner.
That is why Horner is better known today, especially among Britons, by the informal nickname Karen. He owes this to an internet meme that has become so well established in the United States that there is even a cinema film. For those who missed the phenomenon, ‘Karen’ is an unflattering reference to self-righteous, privileged individuals who fervently demand to speak to the manager of a particular establishment in order to get their way.
In relation to Horner that nickname took flight in July after the weekend at Silverstone, when the Red Bull team boss spoke out loudly against the way the FIA and race stewards had behaved in the Verstappen-Hamilton collision. That Horner and Red Bull even summoned test driver Alex Albon and created their own ‘reconstruction’ of that accident to convince the FIA of its errors sparked a spate of mocking comments and memes about ‘Karen Horner’ on social media.
communication trick
Those curious about how this battle will end would do well to listen carefully to Wolff in the coming weeks. He is also a star in another rule of thumb from the communications industry: underpromise and overdeliver. In good Dutch: if possible, temper expectations, so that every surprise always turns out to be a positive one.
Many Formula 1 fans can still remember how Mercedes performed poorly during the test drives in Barcelona in the run-up to the 2019 season. Wolff let everyone know that not too much should be expected of his team, and that the big competitor Ferrari was in control. A few weeks later, at the opening race in Melbourne, Mercedes blew the competition away in what would become the first of eight consecutive victories.
It looks like Wolff and Mercedes pulled that trick again. In the weeks leading up to Brazil, there were concerns about the performance of the bikes and Wolff deliberately chose the role of underdog. Another engine change and associated grid penalty? No, it certainly wouldn’t come again, he assured. Hamilton could not afford that in the title fight with Verstappen. Fast-forward the tape to Brazil and who will screw a brand new engine into their Mercedes? Correct.
It turned out to be a masterstroke for Hamilton, coupled with a setup that maximized the engine’s power. In terms of reliability, that was certainly a risk, but it also made Hamilton unapproachable on the long straights at Interlagos. Wolff and associates had once again thrown sand in the eyes of the competition. After Brazil, Wolff once again assured that Hamilton would “definitely” finish the season with his current engine. Is it true now?
It is reminiscent of the famous, but bastardized statement by Rinus Michels about football: top sport is war, in which almost everything is allowed. With the 2021 season reaching its apotheosis in the Middle East (witty headliners are already warming up to The Duel in the Desert, or the Race in the Desert), the battle between Wolff and Horner is also reaching its peak. One thing is certain: in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi there is plenty of sand within reach for Wolff, should the need arise.
#Horner #Wolff #team #bosses #Formula #regularly #massage #truth