When Carlos Sainz drove through the canal cover in Las Vegas, destroyed his Ferrari and subsequently had to accept the penalty of losing ten places at the start, he received wide sympathy from the lay and expert public. No matter how unfair it was, the Spanish racer did not escape punishment. At the time, this was also very useful for Mercedes, who at the end of the season repelled the attacks of Ferrari in the fight for second place in the Constructors’ Cup.
At that time, they had to build a new car from scratch in the garage of the red team. Mechanics replaced the chassis, internal combustion engine, battery and electronics control unit. The penalty for the last mentioned component was the loss of ten places at the start. Ferrari tried their best to avoid the penalty, but the commissioners found nothing in the rules that would allow them not to award it.
Carlos Sainz was quite irritated at the time and did not hide too much that he was “cut” by their competitors. He was also supported by Max Verstappen, according to whom the teams have no business entering into similar matters. This is Wolff however, he recalled what his role is as a team leader in similar situations.
“Something completely unfair happened to Carlos and I, as a racer, am the first to say that he didn’t deserve it. I think we should look at the rules.” the native of Vienna told the media. “Force majeure is difficult. What about curb damage? When you wreck your car by going over the curb, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“What if you’re driving over bumps with cold tires, like Lando did, and you end up in a wall? Will people say it is an act of God? What if an opponent rams into you, even though you did nothing wrong? Is that also a higher power? As an athlete, you really can’t stand such a situation. It ruined a weekend he could have finished as a winner. We have to think hard about how we want to change it,” he declared Wolff.
Well, as has been shown many times in Formula 1, where there’s a will, there’s a way. In Sainz’s case, neither the will nor the way was clearly found. But why should you help your direct competitor? As a boss, you have to do everything in the best interest of your team that feeds thousands of families. So if Mercedes were to throw some kind of log under Ferrari’s feet – we don’t know officially if that Wolff he did – can we blame them?
The boss himself says that even if there was a provision in the regulations that would bring an advantage to his unit, it would be foolish not to use it. “As boss of a rival team fighting for second place overall, I have to look at the rules and consider the whole range of steps we can take in the race for the Constructors’ Cup.” he declared Wolff.
“If the rules contain something like that, I have to act in the interest of the 2,500 people in the factory. My decision could have a big impact on the premiums of these employees. We cannot lose the championship for five points because I acted within the principles of sporting fairness. If the rules allowed me to penalize my opponent, then I have to do it. Any team leader will do that,” said the boss of Mercedes.
“I’m supposed to decide if it’s unfair to the opponent? Yes, it’s unfair, but I have 2,500 people that I’m literally responsible for that pay mortgages and school fees. There’s nothing to think about,” he said Wolff.
2023-12-06 18:47:16
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