Wolff hits back at Binotto’s ‘bulls**t TD story’

Michelle Foster
Toto-Wolff-and-Mattia-Binotto-end-2019

Toto-Wolff-and-Mattia-Binotto-end-2019

Toto Wolff says Mattia Binotto’s claims that the FIA’s 2019 engine TDs forced all engine manufacturers to adapt is “another complete bullshit story”.

Last season Ferrari’s power unit was the pick of the field, at least for a short while.

Coming to the fore after the summer break, rivals questioned the legality of the Scuderia’s engine, leading to the FIA issuing two Technical Directives.

Ferrari lost pace.

The story continued this season with the Scuderia’s engine down on power, costing not only Ferrari but also its customer teams, Haas and Alfa Romeo.

Binotto recently admitted that the TDs did have an impact.

“Since last year a lot of TDs have been released, eventually clarifying some of the areas of the regulations. I think that through those TDs we had to adapt ourselves,” said the Italian team boss.

“I don’t think it was only the case of Ferrari, I think looking at the power output of this season I think most of the other manufacturers had to adapt themselves. Certainly as Ferrari we had to adapt, and as a simple output of that we lost some of the performance we had.

“I think that now we’ve got a clearer situation in some areas of the regulations, hopefully that will continue if required for the future.”

Wolff is not buying it.

“Another complete bullshit story, technical directives,” he told Motorsport.com. “There’s a clear regulation on power units.

“There have been clarifications in Austin, what is allowed to do or not, which were important, but nothing that was in any way surprising because if you comply to the regulations that was anyway clear.

“I think the irony of the story is that we were pushed by some of our competitors to absolutely new levels.

“It brought us to almost burnout last year, to develop and innovate in a way to be competitive on track.

“And here we go, I think we made a substantial jump in performance from 2019 to 2020. Because we needed to last year, and that is a little bit ironic for me.”

But it is not only the engine issue that has Wolff up in arms.

The Mercedes motorsport boss also feels Binotto should not be sharing details about the Concorde Agreement and who or who isn’t ready to sign.

“I don’t know why some of the other teams made those ridiculous commentary, that they’re ready to sign and that it seems to be some competitors that are not,” Wolff said.

“They make themselves a laughing stock with those comments in the public. Negotiations should be taking place behind closed doors, without running commentary from competitors.

“And in that respect, we’re talking to Liberty, we are keen in staying in F1. There are some clauses which bother us a little bit, but nothing that can’t be solved.”

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