Mercedes AMG F1 team boss Toto Wolff has spoken out, slamming the attitude of rival Red Bull team boss Christian Horner during a meeting at the Canadian Grand Prix, accusing him and other team bosses of not wanting to deal with the problem of bouncing cars on the track.

The new regulations that came into force in Formula One this year have been fatal for Mercedes. After eight seasons of outrageous domination of motorsport’s most prestigious category, winning the constructors’ championship from 2014 to 2021, the German team is in serious trouble in 2022, lagging far behind Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of engine power and performance levels.

Although the Silver Arrows have finished on the podium five times in nine races, they have yet to win a single Grand Prix. This situation can be explained in part by a major obstacle: the porpoising, or bouncing front to back at high speed. Due to the new aerodynamic configuration of the cars, they are constantly bouncing around when aerodynamic loads are at their greatest, which causes the drivers to shake violently and disrupts their driving style, allegedly causing injury. While this issue affects all the teams on the grid to varying degrees, Mercedes is clearly the team most affected by this bouncing.

Lewis Hamilton’s behaviour at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he complained of severe backache and struggled to get out of his seat after the race, is a case in point. This was the reason for a meeting between the ten team bosses and the FIA this weekend, on the weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix, in order to find solutions to put an end to porpoising for all drivers. The meeting quickly became heated, with a heated argument between Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner. The Austrian has been quick to come out and denounce the attitude of his rivals.

“This is a sport in which you try to maintain a competitive advantage or win one. But this situation has clearly gone too far. All the drivers, at least one from each team, said they were in pain after Baku, that they had trouble keeping the car on track or that they could not see clearly,” Toto Wolff said in a statement reported by Motorsport.com.

“Team managers who try to manipulate what is said to keep a competitive advantage and try to play politics, when the FIA is trying to find a quick solution to at least put the cars in a better situation, are hypocrites. And that’s what I said [at the meeting],” he added, explaining that he did not want to simply defend the interests of the team he manages:

“I’m not just talking about Mercedes. All the cars suffered in one way or another in Baku, and that’s still the case here. The cars are too stiff. They bounce, or whatever you want to call it. There are long-term effects that we can’t even judge. It’s a safety risk, and to go behind the back, or brief the drivers, is just pathetic.”

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The 2022 Formula One Canadian GP will be remembered for a great battle between Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen over the closing laps as the Spaniard almost achieved his first F1 race win. It will also be remembered for the mother of all rows between Toto Wolff and the other team principals over the current car design regulations.

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