The fifth season of the highly successful Drive To Survive docu-series has been released on Netflix, with one of the big highlights being a heated exchange between team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner.
In the early stages of the 2022 campaign, porpoising was an issue for a number of teams including Mercedes.
The W13 was bouncing heavily along the straights and the problem was notably prominent in Baku, where seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton suffered back pain as a result.
Mercedes worked to eradicate the problem throughout the opening grand prix weekends, with its drivers suffering uncomfortable rides throughout.
Red Bull didn’t suffer heavily from the problem in a year in which it dominated the championship, taking both titles with several weeks to spare.
Safety concerns were raised in a meeting between Team Principals and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, in which Mercedes boss Wolff got into a heated exchange with Red Bull’s Horner.
“I can tell you that all of you are playing a dangerous game,” Wolff said. “If a car ends [up] in the wall because it is too stiff or it’s bottoming out, you are in the shit and I’m going to come after you.”
Horner fired back at Wolff: “Are we playing to the cameras here? I think this is probably better off-camera.”
Wolff responded: “No, I don’t care. If you think this is a little game on performance, I’ll tell you, you are very, very wrong.”
Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto, who has since departed the Maranello-based squad, quipped that “safety is a matter of team responsibility”, to which Wolff responded sarcastically: “Each of you has found something to limit the problem, congratulations!”
Horner then raised his voice at Wolff and exclaimed: ”Well change your car. You’ve got a problem. Change your fucking car.”
Wolff suggested that Red Bull should “change your car because Checo has been saying the car is fucked”, adding he has it “printed out”.
Domenicali then called the meeting, asserting that the FIA would deal with the situation accordingly.
Porpoising became less of an issue as the 2022 season wore on, and the FIA has implanted technical changes for 2023 in a bid to eliminate the problem.
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