The idea that a postponement to rehearse at the Las Vegas Fabulous Prix over track security issues may be a ‘bruised eye’ to F1 prompted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff blowing his top
Flashes flew in a blazing Las Vegas Terrific Prix public interview as Toto Wolff responded furiously to the idea that deferrals to rehearse are a “bruised eye” to Recipe 1.
The primary meeting of the end of the week was dropped following a couple of moments after two vehicles were intensely harmed by a free sewer vent cover. What’s more, the second was intensely deferred while that piece of the track was fixed and the rest was checked to ensure there could have been no other comparative issues.
Martin Brundle suggested the incident is a “black eye” to F1 ahead of its new marquee event. And the same phrase was used by a journalist during the team principals’ press conference which incurred the wrath of Mercedes team principal Wolff to such an extent they had to bleep the profanity in his response.
That is not a ‘black eye’ – this is nothing,” the Austrian fumed. “We are [on] Thursday night, we have a free practice session one that we’re not doing. They’re going to seal the drain covers and nobody’s going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore.”
And he raised his voice as his temper grew at the journalist who had asked the question: “It’s FP1 – how can you even dare trying to talk bad about an event that sets new standards to everything? You’re speaking about a f***ing drain cover that’s been undone, that has happened before. That’s nothing – it’s FP1.
“Give credit to the people that have set up this grand prix, that have made this sport much bigger than it ever was. Liberty has done an awesome job and just because in FP1 a drain cover has become undone, we shouldn’t be moaning. The car is broken – that’s really a shame. For Carlos [Sainz], it could have been dangerous.
So between the FIA and the track and everybody needs to analyse how we can make sure that this is not happening again. But talking here about the ‘black eye for the sport’ on a Thursday evening – nobody watches that in European time anyway.”
Alpine managed to fix the damage done to Esteban Ocon’s car. But Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur, who had already clashed with Wolff earlier in that press conference, said Sainz’s car would not be fixed in time for the second session which the FIA hoped to get under way by 2am local time (10am GMT).
Furthermore, he called the entire circumstance “just unacceptable.” The Frenchman stated: “We have to separate the show and the sporting side, but the show is mega and I am very happy with what [F1 commercial rights holders] Liberty [Media] did around the race.”
“This is a huge show. The Formula One opening ceremony was incredible, but just because you are doing this doesn’t mean you can neglect your sporting responsibilities. You’re capable of carrying out both the show and the athletics.”