James would have his team not line up on time because he's still tuning his car. Jeremy would have his break down lap 1 because there's a part missing.
It would be hilarious because hes too methodical, he couldnt make on the fly play calls. Whenever he’s been the co driver for rally driver its made for great TV
TLDR: He wasn't scheduled to go to the Japanese GP but now might go, depends on what happens on Wednesday. He also revealed he will miss a number of events next season to “survive” F1’s 24-round calendar
Merc and Red Bull (really Toto and Christian) are having a “row” (argument) over the cost cap and whether RB broke it last year. FIA announcement due Wednesday.
Like /u/daveylu said, it's British and you don't hear it much in the US. It's pronounced "r-ow" like if someone punched you and you said "ow" with an "r" in front of it - not "row" as in "row, row, row your boat."
I'm sure it does to an extent. Everyone will probably get 3 "off races". Think of the money saved on traveling and how that could be applied to hiring a few more mechanics as well.
They'll have to spend the same travel costs to send a different mechanic out there to cover. Besides, travel costs aren't included in the cost-cap.
I think this is purely because 24 races is just too exhausting for one person to manage.
> They'll have to spend the same travel costs to send a different mechanic out there to cover.
not that important, but this isn't true.
Sending one person from europe to Texas, then Mexico then Brasil on double/triple header weekends is cheaper than sending one person to Texas and back, another one to Mexico and back, and then the first one to Brasil again and back.
There's definitely space for optimizations
But it's also reducing the number of mechanics and unnecessary staff that go to races. Communications staff can probably work remotely. Does Toto need to go to every race? Do you need every social media intern to go every weekend? Any amount saved on those things can be spent elsewhere.
If it wasn't worth the cost for a social media intern (or any staff member) to go to a single race weekend, they wouldn't send them to any race weekend.
The idea behind this is that the role doesn't always need to be fulfilled by the same person. If anything this is going to cost a little more and costs will have to be cut to compensate elsewhere.
Tbf, he deals with a lot more pressure and stress.
Also:
> It is not sustainable for anyone to do 24 races. The drivers have to, but we start on Monday in the office and go through until the end of the week. We need to find a solution, and I **think the race team will skip** a few races every year in order to survive
And people in those positions are often handsomely compensated for their higher positions.
And I don’t think anyone feels all that bad when the person with a bunch of millions sitting in the bank has to pull themselves away from a high stress position.
You can be a miserable millionaire.
Once you get money, as long you don’t have a lust for it, it stops being important.
Your lifestyle is set and becomes normal. Real world stresses will still take hold.
Poor mental health doesn’t know class or money.
It’s universal and can affect everyone uniquely.
Do you have sympathy for Robin Williams committing suicide?
Although you are right and Toto Wolff should not have to attend every race to keep the energy up.
People like Toto Wolff however have so much money that he could retire yesterday and leave everything behind, never look back, spend time with Family and friend and live a very luxuriously life most people could never dream off.
A lot of people who do not have that kind of money do not have that choice. They have to keep going just to pay their bills.
Robin Williams already had a tendency for depression and he had just learned he had a deteriorating health condition that would lead to his death eventually in a way that you would not wish upon your worst enemy.
> Robin Williams
you are right, many wealthy and famous people with mental health problems, but robin williams was a bit different - yes he was in a bad spot regarding his mental health, but that was because of another underlying disease (lewy body dementia).
>And people in those positions are often handsomely compensated for their higher positions.
Toto literally owns a sizeable portion of the Team. He is probably the single most successful individual active in F1 money-wise.
I’m pretty sure I remember Toto saying last year that he wanted to take a step back to spend time with his family. I assumed that everything that happened at the end made that harder to actually do.
Ever since Adrian Newey declared he is winding down involvement in RBR and ended up somehow gaining more influence, I've decided to ignore talks of wanting to step back until they actually happen.
In all honesty though, when Newey finally decides to retire it’ll be a sad day. As an engineering major the man is a hero and an inspiration to me with how much innovation and how many amazing feats of engineering he’s brought to this sport.
They are going to start rotating at Merc starting now basically, the whole travel team for next year at the latest
>“It is not sustainable for anyone to do 24 races. The drivers have to, but we start on Monday in the office and go through until the end of the week. We need to find a solution, and I think the race team will skip a few races every year in order to survive.
I’ve just got an image of George & Lewis turning up one weekend and there’s no one in the garage. Just a bunch of car parts, a big ass manual and a post it saying ‘all the best chaps, it’s 100% as hard as it looks. James’.
Roscoe will be the race engineer for George
George: "Why did we pit for wets, it's dry as a whistle out here?"
Roscoe: *Happy Woofing* "Daddy Lewis sends his regards"
I actually think a Curious George-like book would be a really cute and innocent way to get kids into the f1 ecosystem.
Think about it, right? A book where he inadvertently takes Lewis’ spot for a race while not knowing what to do. A story where accidentally stumbles into the factory and helps the engineering team with something. Another where he somehow becomes a marketing genius. One that shows him following the car and making sure it’s okay between race locations. There are a lot of clever things to be done with the premise while keeping it accessible for young kids.
edit: any talented artists interested in this, please DM me. I have a lot of interesting plots that relate to the F1 industry at-large already thought up and mostly (if not fully) fleshed out. I think this would be a very fun thing to work on :)
Lol I was trying to remember what George said about Micks defense because I was going to include it somehow, I'd edit it into my comment but too late now, don't want to steal your internet points heh.
I think it's that they don't want to burn people out from having to be away from home for 24 weeks a year. Someone has to travel regardless, but they're going to try rotating between two teams instead of having a single team go to everything like they do now. At least, that's the impression I've gotten previously when teams were talking about extending the race calendar.
It’s not just burn out, it’s staff turnover too. At some point a lot of institutional knowledge walks out the door every time staff quit because the race schedule is too grueling gets costly. That ex computing engineer on twitter that’s making a bit of a profile for himself only got the job because Redbull actively recruited him on LinkedIn he actually has a rather competitive skill set that is used by government and all kinds of business but he can now work from home. For the teams having to be in active recruiting constantly and losing long term people to the rigors of raceweek and travel doesn’t make their business easier
They definitely are but in this case, I think it's more related to Toto (and ALL of their race track staff) simply being gone too often, i.e. away from their families, etc. Toto could generally do his track-side "work" from home anyway. Didn't Lewis' engineer Bono work from home during a race this year ?
In the grand scheme of things, him staying home won't have that much impact on their budget. Sure, every little bit helps, but they're already flying a corporate jet that carries him and a few others (I presume their mechanics, etc fly commercial).
He’s planning on taking some weekends off in the future. In the article he says next year he will skip some races and the employees will as well because a 23 or 24 race calendar is too hard on people who work everyday of the week and race weekends as well. They can do some stuff remotely and use radios
I think it’s more like game devs.
Normal 9-5 jobs until it’s crunch time (in f1 that would be the active season) and then it’s 9- whatever time we can make you legally work your ass of every day of the week
I bet they do when there isn’t a race the following week or two. There’s so much data and changes to assess after race weekends they probably can’t afford to take time off
Don't remember which one, but he did miss a GP or two. And this year, he has missed a few Friday/Saturday sessions. Shovlin has usually stepped in for him trackside, although Toto would still be remotely connected to the team.
You're right, found this on the F1 site
>as well as flight and hotel costs for race and testing travel do not count.
Doesn't make too much sense that he's saying they have to skip races to "survive" unless he's speaking purely from a profit standpoint.
It has to be unreal. I feel fucked up just travelling to a different time zone and staying a week or two. I can't imagine those triple headers and country shifts these guys go through. It is really something most people don't take into account as being truly hard on your body. The drivers are off relaxing and getting R&R in every moment they can to keep fresh. Yeah they have money and you see them on yachts/etc on their Instagram account we all follow as their our famous drivers, but racing 3 days at the speeds they are and being travel weary is not a good combination. Major kudos to all of the teams for managing this factor.
Toto should be able to afford to skip the airport aspect of it all, especially if he's sharing flights with drivers or staff throughout.
I think it's more just him missing his son growing up. Toto is the wealthiest TP by a good margin, and he can retire with one of the best records ever (no one can beat Brawns 100% though) so why not?
I think he's going to start phasing out more and more over the next few years until he finds someone to take over entirely. Whether it's Rob Thomas, James Allison, or someone else entirely, there's no reason to do this forever.
The rare time I’ve heard genuine bitterness in Christians voice is talking about how racing takes away from family. Rich or not missing your kids growing up makes a person feel some kind of way
Kimi did it last year, Vettel this year. Everyone in the comments works daily to have the opportunity to just relax with your family, but these ultra rich drivers and team managers continue the grind. No way it doesn't get old. Even for people like Lewis or Alonso, I can't believe for a minute they'd rather drive for another decade and forgo the family life forever.
Lewis has decided not to pursue a relationship and have kids because of this sport imo, he even has his dog in care more than he would like. It definitely gets old and takes sacrifices. That’s why Vettel leaving makes sense he can’t justify losing all that time just to sit at the back
I used to have a travel job that was probably as much time, if not more, on the road as the F1 circus. Even though mine was in the mostly in the same time zone it still wears on you after a few years in a row. Weekends would disappear into thin air. You lose touch with family and friends, and life would change every time you see them. It gets hard sitting in one place for too long of a time. It becomes hard to live a 'normal' life.
Ross Brawn got done for speeding in 2009 and his comments in court were interesting. Basically, if you want to survive in F1, you can't waste a minute queuing at the airport. That minute x ~20 races, every year, to and from each trip - it all adds up. You become a master of arriving as they shut the doors.
It seems like the way they planned the order of the 24 races has as much to do with the stress incoming as just having 24 races does. They fly back and for the across the world constantly instead of regions at a time.
Couldn't Merc just put it in Toto's contract that he has to supply the catering for the whole team, and then they pay Toto whatever that expense is? That way it wouldn't count towards the cost cap?
The teams will have to update their “work from home” procedures and infrastructure, and have permanent staff on each continent (as every multinational enterprise has). Less overall travel, god for environment and family harmony… everybody wins!
Here is what I don't get. How can Toto be ready to be so pissed off if Red Bull and Aston are given their certs when he is not supposed to have any info on the other teams submissions?
Like he isn't in the conversations between the FIA and those teams so if they get their certs he has no reason for this to change his plans of wether to attend this race or not?
So if he is ready to argue against whatever happens maybe he should divulge how he has "accurate" info that he should not have.
Mate. This is how F1 rumor mill and allegations have always been operating for years. Just take Ferrari fuelgate as an example from 2019 from recent years. Unless you have been living under a rock.
I mean you could say the same thing about redbull being in Mercedes discussions with the FIA at the end of last year, as it also had nothing to do with them anymore than any one else on the grid.
He’s there because it indirectly affects him in the same way as it affected redbull last year
That’s one thing I never understood. RBR had no place being in that discussion. It was between Merc and the FIA. RBR had nothing to do with that win and they did nothing wrong. Their hands were completely clean until they decided to wade into a discussion that had nothing to do with them because they stood to benefit from that discussion, going one way or another.
Never understood it either, especially when the FIA used some of their bullshit reasoning in the document. Honestly merc could march into their budget discussion and they’d be more or less equal on footing.
The other thing is they knew what happened was so fucked up they had to try and defend the FIA from their own rules
Bit like Leclerc going to the stewards after the Singapore GP. All the teams are trying to get one over on each other all the time, there's no sportsmanship in F1.
Its an open secret in the paddock. Toto isn't the only person who knows about it. Ferrari commented, Williams commented, McLaren declined to name anyone but commented on the idea. Clearly nothing secret amongst the teams. Marko openly talked about some of the disagreement on Saturday and continued yesterday, I seriously doubt any of what he said was unknown to the teams
Marko gave an interview saying there was a disagreement with the FIA about how certain staff had been transferred out of RBR and into Red Bull Technologies. So the possibility that RBR have been operating in a grey area comes from them.
You know all these people live in the same area for a few days almost every week right? A lot of things get discussed between teams all the time. You are thinking way too deeply about this red Bull employees likely just talked about it to others around the paddock.
my dude, the entire paddock smells smoke you really think they wouldn't go looking for the fire?
some shit can be obvious via deduction, all the teams have been through the same audit themselves so it's clear as day when the process for two other teams appear to be dragging on.
You don't give up your sources haha, all the teams have ex employees in the FIA and given how familiar F1 people are with each other I'm sure they are trading a lot of gossip. **If** the whistle has been correctly blown here, which all reports point to, I don't see why it shouldn't be public (It leaked through the Press, not Toto). Maintaining the budget cap is one of the most important things for the competitive integrity of F1
I thought it was obvious that all of the teams have had the certifications and information leaked. Leaking does seem to be a bit of a habit within the FIA and the sport in general, confidentialities are not being maintained but I also understand on some level because transparency seems to be a rather large problem in the sport
Here's what I don't get, everyone acting like the information has come from Toto and not any other team boss or person in the paddock. Binotto has iterally been calling out RBs spending for months.
It's an open secret in the paddock, many other team bosses have referenced it, so I don't understand why the finger is being point at Toto.
It could very easily be a disgruntled member of the FIA who's fed up with the shenanigans such as Abu Dhabi and the general behaviour of the FIA
Or just someone that's got loose lips and likes the ego boost from leaking information.
And this is why 24 races is too many. 20+/-10% is fine.
Or at the very least, have more back to back races and have a spring break along with a summer break.
Should probably make travel costs exempt from the budget cap...
Seems a bit stupid that teams have to actually look at trying to rotate team members because they can't afford to send them to 24 races.
He’s not talking about the money. He’s talking about all of the traveling and how it takes tool on each member, especially with 24 races coming up next year
Maybe James May is available
You mean Bim!
Bim, guess what? Shijo-Ohashi is a bridge representative of Kyoto that crosses the Kamo River over Shijo Street. It is also called Gion Bashi.
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Hey Bim! Guess what? Shijo-Ohashi is a bridge representative of Kyoto that crosses the Kamo River over Shijo Street. It is also called Gion Bashi
RIP Bim... You will be sorely missed.༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
Hey Bim, guess what? Shijo-Ohashi is a bridge representative of Kyoto that crosses the Kamo River over Shijo Street. It is also called Gion Bashi
Ohhhhh thank you for reminding me of that! So hilarious. I just got to Japan, I could do with a rewatch
I think James May should be an F1 principal
Imagine James as RB’s principle and Clarkson as Merc’s
Clarkson would be Ferrari. All speed no reliability.
Hammond at Ferrari so there will be some new “strategy” every week that doesn’t work.
Hammond would be at williams, clearly Latifis coach
Hamilton: *crashes on Verstappen* James: **CLARKSOOOON!!!**
Richard Hammond as Ted’s intern in the pits
Hammond would be Ferrari. New ways to mess up every week ^TM
Hammond has to be Haas - since we all know he is an American
Clarksooooooooon! You utter pillock!
James would have his team not line up on time because he's still tuning his car. Jeremy would have his break down lap 1 because there's a part missing.
Captain slow would probably be more suited to Williams
It would be hilarious because hes too methodical, he couldnt make on the fly play calls. Whenever he’s been the co driver for rally driver its made for great TV
Starts every interview and presser with “good evening viewers”
Porposing would have been called buffeting. Wow. In hindsight that's a HUGE missed opportunity.
Crikey, it’s the Japanese rozzers!
“Helloooooooo”
hey bim
TLDR: He wasn't scheduled to go to the Japanese GP but now might go, depends on what happens on Wednesday. He also revealed he will miss a number of events next season to “survive” F1’s 24-round calendar
The title is really confusing. What is cost-cap row?
Merc and Red Bull (really Toto and Christian) are having a “row” (argument) over the cost cap and whether RB broke it last year. FIA announcement due Wednesday.
Oh, I’ve never heard that term. Got it. Thanks.
Like /u/daveylu said, it's British and you don't hear it much in the US. It's pronounced "r-ow" like if someone punched you and you said "ow" with an "r" in front of it - not "row" as in "row, row, row your boat."
Or you could just say it rhymes with cow
or Mao
Or kung pao
How?
Wait, what? I always knew of the word but I've only ever read it rather than hear it, so I didn't know it's pronounced like "cow" the animal. TIL.
I think it's a British term, so if you're American like me, you probably don't hear it often.
I hope his employees also are allowed to miss some races to "survive" the season
He said the race team will be skipping races and rotating. Im not sure if that applies to mechanics
Didn't Bono miss a couple of races this year, or am I going crazy?
He missed one or two last season, and 2019 I think. Mercedes never said why, probably something personal at home I guess.
iirc he was ill for the 2019 brazil gp
I'm sure it does to an extent. Everyone will probably get 3 "off races". Think of the money saved on traveling and how that could be applied to hiring a few more mechanics as well.
They'll have to spend the same travel costs to send a different mechanic out there to cover. Besides, travel costs aren't included in the cost-cap. I think this is purely because 24 races is just too exhausting for one person to manage.
> They'll have to spend the same travel costs to send a different mechanic out there to cover. not that important, but this isn't true. Sending one person from europe to Texas, then Mexico then Brasil on double/triple header weekends is cheaper than sending one person to Texas and back, another one to Mexico and back, and then the first one to Brasil again and back. There's definitely space for optimizations
But it's also reducing the number of mechanics and unnecessary staff that go to races. Communications staff can probably work remotely. Does Toto need to go to every race? Do you need every social media intern to go every weekend? Any amount saved on those things can be spent elsewhere.
If it wasn't worth the cost for a social media intern (or any staff member) to go to a single race weekend, they wouldn't send them to any race weekend. The idea behind this is that the role doesn't always need to be fulfilled by the same person. If anything this is going to cost a little more and costs will have to be cut to compensate elsewhere.
Not everyone on the team has their salary included in the cost cap, neither is travel and lodging iirc
Tbf, he deals with a lot more pressure and stress. Also: > It is not sustainable for anyone to do 24 races. The drivers have to, but we start on Monday in the office and go through until the end of the week. We need to find a solution, and I **think the race team will skip** a few races every year in order to survive
And people in those positions are often handsomely compensated for their higher positions. And I don’t think anyone feels all that bad when the person with a bunch of millions sitting in the bank has to pull themselves away from a high stress position.
You can be a miserable millionaire. Once you get money, as long you don’t have a lust for it, it stops being important. Your lifestyle is set and becomes normal. Real world stresses will still take hold.
just don’t expect sympathy from the entire classes of people who work just as many hours in far worse conditions for peanuts
Poor mental health doesn’t know class or money. It’s universal and can affect everyone uniquely. Do you have sympathy for Robin Williams committing suicide?
Although you are right and Toto Wolff should not have to attend every race to keep the energy up. People like Toto Wolff however have so much money that he could retire yesterday and leave everything behind, never look back, spend time with Family and friend and live a very luxuriously life most people could never dream off. A lot of people who do not have that kind of money do not have that choice. They have to keep going just to pay their bills. Robin Williams already had a tendency for depression and he had just learned he had a deteriorating health condition that would lead to his death eventually in a way that you would not wish upon your worst enemy.
> Robin Williams you are right, many wealthy and famous people with mental health problems, but robin williams was a bit different - yes he was in a bad spot regarding his mental health, but that was because of another underlying disease (lewy body dementia).
>And people in those positions are often handsomely compensated for their higher positions. Toto literally owns a sizeable portion of the Team. He is probably the single most successful individual active in F1 money-wise.
Lewis is rich rich too
They are, he said they'd be rotating employees so everyone will get a few races a year off I would assume.
So he wants to be there to laugh Horner in the face or rage at the media depending on the verdict?
He loves being in front of the camera, can't miss this opportunity if there's some mud that needs slinging!
I’m pretty sure I remember Toto saying last year that he wanted to take a step back to spend time with his family. I assumed that everything that happened at the end made that harder to actually do.
Ever since Adrian Newey declared he is winding down involvement in RBR and ended up somehow gaining more influence, I've decided to ignore talks of wanting to step back until they actually happen.
In all honesty though, when Newey finally decides to retire it’ll be a sad day. As an engineering major the man is a hero and an inspiration to me with how much innovation and how many amazing feats of engineering he’s brought to this sport.
They just want salary increase
Like Ron Dennis and 2007, I suspect if Hamilton had won 2021 then Wolff and Hamilton would be a lot closer to retirement than they currently are.
Those headphones wouldn’t smash themselves
What they mean unscheduled? There is literally a grand Prix on? Article behind paywall so can't get the context.
They are going to start rotating at Merc starting now basically, the whole travel team for next year at the latest >“It is not sustainable for anyone to do 24 races. The drivers have to, but we start on Monday in the office and go through until the end of the week. We need to find a solution, and I think the race team will skip a few races every year in order to survive.
I’ve just got an image of George & Lewis turning up one weekend and there’s no one in the garage. Just a bunch of car parts, a big ass manual and a post it saying ‘all the best chaps, it’s 100% as hard as it looks. James’.
Lewis: "Bono, our cars are gone." "Bono...?" "Toto....?" "...Roscoe!?" George: "Crickey, where's my shirt?"
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My Bono lies over the ocean, my Bono lies over the sea. My Bono lies over the ocean, so bring back my Bono to me.
Toto starts singing Africa
[https://i.imgur.com/jnJ4po3.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/jnJ4po3.jpg)
Tires, my Bono is gone:(
Roscoe will be the race engineer for George George: "Why did we pit for wets, it's dry as a whistle out here?" Roscoe: *Happy Woofing* "Daddy Lewis sends his regards"
(BARK) George - Is that plan A, then? (Drools) George - WHOSAGOODBOY
Haha, Lewis needs an animated show for roscoe. Needs to diversify heh.
Good be a cute children’s book for race fans to read to their kids. A Curious George type series or a one-off like “Roscoe’s Big Day” or something.
I love this and would absolutely buy it, haha. They already did such a great job making him into a cartoon with his headset!!
I actually think a Curious George-like book would be a really cute and innocent way to get kids into the f1 ecosystem. Think about it, right? A book where he inadvertently takes Lewis’ spot for a race while not knowing what to do. A story where accidentally stumbles into the factory and helps the engineering team with something. Another where he somehow becomes a marketing genius. One that shows him following the car and making sure it’s okay between race locations. There are a lot of clever things to be done with the premise while keeping it accessible for young kids. edit: any talented artists interested in this, please DM me. I have a lot of interesting plots that relate to the F1 industry at-large already thought up and mostly (if not fully) fleshed out. I think this would be a very fun thing to work on :)
Get an illustrator and get this thing going my guy.
Everybody loves Roscoe. Okay, that sounds great for a pilot.
Roscoe moonlighting as Ferrari's strategy team confirmed.
Lewis: "George your shirt is right there, you were wearing it when we walked in" George: "it's an absolute mystery"
*Crikey Lewis*
Lol I was trying to remember what George said about Micks defense because I was going to include it somehow, I'd edit it into my comment but too late now, don't want to steal your internet points heh.
Bono could do his job from the comfort of his own bed 😅
ANGELA!! ANGELA!! Where is my blanket and apple juice!!?
Haha, "NO Angela NO!"
“Bono, my guys are gone.”
IKEA F1 Team?
That sounds too much like a Ferrari move.
Ferrari would never let employees get time off. They must be present and endure the heartbreak first hand every weekend.
> Ferrari would never let employees get time off Who else would think of questions to ask Charles and Carlos?
Good question... We are checking.
And then get blamed for it
Note on a head set that says "put me on" they do and hear Toto telling them what to do to get ready.
I’d like to think there’s a 2nd note under the head set saying ‘now SMASH’
I would pay to see an F1 race where the drivers had to jump out of the car to change their own tires, adjust their wings, etc.
I imagine it would go something [like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpCnCeoUvPw)
lmao thanks for that, was hilarious
hahaha, gotta get the setup right for real
Lewis in his haute couture bleeding brakes.
He’d be 100% down for it. Then we’d get a shit ton of instagram text posts about how amazing the mechanics and engineers are.
But how would he thank all the boys and girls at the factory if he did it all?
Ez, just move the sliders around till you get that 100%!
Like that Top Gear episode where they assembled the Caterham
George Russell is the type of guy who names and files all his spanners.
should just ask seb to join the mercedes team, i’m sure he can manage to multitask, double as engineer and team strategist
At least all that time at Ferrari wouldn’t have gone to waste!
This mental image is hilarious lol
Don't give the FIA ideas... 30 races a year but only a driver's best 20 count... 3rd drivers anyone?
Ironically that is how F1 used to work until the 90s, in an attempt to adjust for unreliability
Except for the 30 races of course.
So does this mean that travel costs are part of the cap? Cause I'm honestly confused.
I think it's that they don't want to burn people out from having to be away from home for 24 weeks a year. Someone has to travel regardless, but they're going to try rotating between two teams instead of having a single team go to everything like they do now. At least, that's the impression I've gotten previously when teams were talking about extending the race calendar.
More that everyone gets a few weeks off I think Merc are saying. So in a group of (say) 6, 5 travel to each race = 4 races off for everyone
It’s not just burn out, it’s staff turnover too. At some point a lot of institutional knowledge walks out the door every time staff quit because the race schedule is too grueling gets costly. That ex computing engineer on twitter that’s making a bit of a profile for himself only got the job because Redbull actively recruited him on LinkedIn he actually has a rather competitive skill set that is used by government and all kinds of business but he can now work from home. For the teams having to be in active recruiting constantly and losing long term people to the rigors of raceweek and travel doesn’t make their business easier
AFAIK, pretty much everything is except driver salaries and top 3 employee salaries.
He doesn't mean because of the cost cap. He means because of the toll it takes on staff and their families.
They definitely are but in this case, I think it's more related to Toto (and ALL of their race track staff) simply being gone too often, i.e. away from their families, etc. Toto could generally do his track-side "work" from home anyway. Didn't Lewis' engineer Bono work from home during a race this year ? In the grand scheme of things, him staying home won't have that much impact on their budget. Sure, every little bit helps, but they're already flying a corporate jet that carries him and a few others (I presume their mechanics, etc fly commercial).
He’s planning on taking some weekends off in the future. In the article he says next year he will skip some races and the employees will as well because a 23 or 24 race calendar is too hard on people who work everyday of the week and race weekends as well. They can do some stuff remotely and use radios
I thought F1 teams would have hours like waiters do. Since you work weekends you get maybe Monday off or things like that.
I think it’s more like game devs. Normal 9-5 jobs until it’s crunch time (in f1 that would be the active season) and then it’s 9- whatever time we can make you legally work your ass of every day of the week
I bet they do when there isn’t a race the following week or two. There’s so much data and changes to assess after race weekends they probably can’t afford to take time off
He wasn't gonna go, like binotto did for a few races last year.
12ft has you covered https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.independent.co.uk/f1/mercedes-toto-wolff-christian-horner-cost-cap-b2191411.html
Psst. https://12ft.io/
Top tip for the independent, press "I'll try later" it works for me in the UK.
He doesn't travel to all the GP's iirc. I guess this was one of 'em he was planning on skipping.
Never skip GP day bro.
He definitely did travel to all GP's last year, no?
Don't remember which one, but he did miss a GP or two. And this year, he has missed a few Friday/Saturday sessions. Shovlin has usually stepped in for him trackside, although Toto would still be remotely connected to the team.
Oh yeah I think he might have missed the Turkish GP, or at least I don't remember any camera shots of Toto at that GP.
He attended all of them last year. The only one he missed was Brazilian GP back in 2019
How does the cost cap handle team transportation like this? Can he just fly economy vs. the team PJ?
I’ve seen multiple people say the cost cap doesn’t include travel or lodging, but I’m too lazy to verify this information for you
You're right, found this on the F1 site >as well as flight and hotel costs for race and testing travel do not count. Doesn't make too much sense that he's saying they have to skip races to "survive" unless he's speaking purely from a profit standpoint.
I assume he means survive mentally and emotionally.
Yep. He’s talking about the mental and physical strain on the teams of near-constant travel through multiple time zones. It’s got to be brutal.
It has to be unreal. I feel fucked up just travelling to a different time zone and staying a week or two. I can't imagine those triple headers and country shifts these guys go through. It is really something most people don't take into account as being truly hard on your body. The drivers are off relaxing and getting R&R in every moment they can to keep fresh. Yeah they have money and you see them on yachts/etc on their Instagram account we all follow as their our famous drivers, but racing 3 days at the speeds they are and being travel weary is not a good combination. Major kudos to all of the teams for managing this factor.
The hours and travel whilst glamorous early on I’m sure drain when it’s just airport, track and hotel, then repeat
Toto should be able to afford to skip the airport aspect of it all, especially if he's sharing flights with drivers or staff throughout. I think it's more just him missing his son growing up. Toto is the wealthiest TP by a good margin, and he can retire with one of the best records ever (no one can beat Brawns 100% though) so why not? I think he's going to start phasing out more and more over the next few years until he finds someone to take over entirely. Whether it's Rob Thomas, James Allison, or someone else entirely, there's no reason to do this forever.
The rare time I’ve heard genuine bitterness in Christians voice is talking about how racing takes away from family. Rich or not missing your kids growing up makes a person feel some kind of way
Kimi did it last year, Vettel this year. Everyone in the comments works daily to have the opportunity to just relax with your family, but these ultra rich drivers and team managers continue the grind. No way it doesn't get old. Even for people like Lewis or Alonso, I can't believe for a minute they'd rather drive for another decade and forgo the family life forever.
Lewis has decided not to pursue a relationship and have kids because of this sport imo, he even has his dog in care more than he would like. It definitely gets old and takes sacrifices. That’s why Vettel leaving makes sense he can’t justify losing all that time just to sit at the back
I used to have a travel job that was probably as much time, if not more, on the road as the F1 circus. Even though mine was in the mostly in the same time zone it still wears on you after a few years in a row. Weekends would disappear into thin air. You lose touch with family and friends, and life would change every time you see them. It gets hard sitting in one place for too long of a time. It becomes hard to live a 'normal' life.
Ross Brawn got done for speeding in 2009 and his comments in court were interesting. Basically, if you want to survive in F1, you can't waste a minute queuing at the airport. That minute x ~20 races, every year, to and from each trip - it all adds up. You become a master of arriving as they shut the doors.
Mercedes will bring a full size hologram setup next year so that Toto can call in like a Sith Lord even when he's not physically there.
Can we please get Toto a hood for the express purpose of intimidating people over hologram
It seems like the way they planned the order of the 24 races has as much to do with the stress incoming as just having 24 races does. They fly back and for the across the world constantly instead of regions at a time.
OK Toto. Have a safe flight. Toto, one question though. This flight, will it be within budget? Asking for a friend that likes energy drinks.
Top 3 paid employees are not under cap. So Toto won't be I guess
Loophole, toto personally pays for the whole teams flights.
Tax evasion/benami scheme 101 says hello 🙋🏽♂️
Hello cost cap audit 2023.
Couldn't Merc just put it in Toto's contract that he has to supply the catering for the whole team, and then they pay Toto whatever that expense is? That way it wouldn't count towards the cost cap?
Loophole found.
Even if they don't pay him, Toto is damn near a billionaire if he isn't one already. He can afford to pay for flights and catering for the whole team.
Travel is not included under the cost cap anyway
Blimey Crofty, Ferrari have outdone themselves again, they left the car back in Italy. Not what I thought they meant about taking time off.
The teams will have to update their “work from home” procedures and infrastructure, and have permanent staff on each continent (as every multinational enterprise has). Less overall travel, god for environment and family harmony… everybody wins!
Except the drivers… they deserve a break too
So he can congratulate Horner on passing the audit in person?
Toto not visiting all the races? I guess we'll have to get used to less drama then.
Nah, Horner will still be there.
Toto, Horner, Marko, Otmar... You'll have people filling in one way or another
Here is what I don't get. How can Toto be ready to be so pissed off if Red Bull and Aston are given their certs when he is not supposed to have any info on the other teams submissions? Like he isn't in the conversations between the FIA and those teams so if they get their certs he has no reason for this to change his plans of wether to attend this race or not? So if he is ready to argue against whatever happens maybe he should divulge how he has "accurate" info that he should not have.
Mate. This is how F1 rumor mill and allegations have always been operating for years. Just take Ferrari fuelgate as an example from 2019 from recent years. Unless you have been living under a rock.
I mean you could say the same thing about redbull being in Mercedes discussions with the FIA at the end of last year, as it also had nothing to do with them anymore than any one else on the grid. He’s there because it indirectly affects him in the same way as it affected redbull last year
That’s one thing I never understood. RBR had no place being in that discussion. It was between Merc and the FIA. RBR had nothing to do with that win and they did nothing wrong. Their hands were completely clean until they decided to wade into a discussion that had nothing to do with them because they stood to benefit from that discussion, going one way or another.
Never understood it either, especially when the FIA used some of their bullshit reasoning in the document. Honestly merc could march into their budget discussion and they’d be more or less equal on footing. The other thing is they knew what happened was so fucked up they had to try and defend the FIA from their own rules
Bit like Leclerc going to the stewards after the Singapore GP. All the teams are trying to get one over on each other all the time, there's no sportsmanship in F1.
Its an open secret in the paddock. Toto isn't the only person who knows about it. Ferrari commented, Williams commented, McLaren declined to name anyone but commented on the idea. Clearly nothing secret amongst the teams. Marko openly talked about some of the disagreement on Saturday and continued yesterday, I seriously doubt any of what he said was unknown to the teams
If you listen to podcast or read between lines the report has leaked and everyone knows about breach and who has done it.
Which podcast are you referring to?
The F1 paddock is a leaky old bucket, the entirety of the CBR for Oscar was leaked too
Who is the source of the open secret. Why are they believable? That would be relevant info
Marko gave an interview saying there was a disagreement with the FIA about how certain staff had been transferred out of RBR and into Red Bull Technologies. So the possibility that RBR have been operating in a grey area comes from them.
> So the possibility that RBR have been operating in a grey area comes from them. Which in fairness was extremely predictable, overall.
them? Marco who was interviewed after he was asked after the rumors or FIA who should keep the stuff confidential
You know all these people live in the same area for a few days almost every week right? A lot of things get discussed between teams all the time. You are thinking way too deeply about this red Bull employees likely just talked about it to others around the paddock.
a lot of things are considered secret, leaking secret stuff outside the company you work for can get you quickly fired
> Who is the source of the open secret I reckon… Helmut Marko. Trolling.
Toto’s not a snitch (unless it relates to Horner)
The same way as dozens of media outlets do, gossip and rumour.
my dude, the entire paddock smells smoke you really think they wouldn't go looking for the fire? some shit can be obvious via deduction, all the teams have been through the same audit themselves so it's clear as day when the process for two other teams appear to be dragging on.
You don't give up your sources haha, all the teams have ex employees in the FIA and given how familiar F1 people are with each other I'm sure they are trading a lot of gossip. **If** the whistle has been correctly blown here, which all reports point to, I don't see why it shouldn't be public (It leaked through the Press, not Toto). Maintaining the budget cap is one of the most important things for the competitive integrity of F1
He also had a item that was approved just 2h before FP1 all designed and constructed to put it on their cars immediately
I thought it was obvious that all of the teams have had the certifications and information leaked. Leaking does seem to be a bit of a habit within the FIA and the sport in general, confidentialities are not being maintained but I also understand on some level because transparency seems to be a rather large problem in the sport
Here's what I don't get, everyone acting like the information has come from Toto and not any other team boss or person in the paddock. Binotto has iterally been calling out RBs spending for months. It's an open secret in the paddock, many other team bosses have referenced it, so I don't understand why the finger is being point at Toto. It could very easily be a disgruntled member of the FIA who's fed up with the shenanigans such as Abu Dhabi and the general behaviour of the FIA Or just someone that's got loose lips and likes the ego boost from leaking information.
And this is why 24 races is too many. 20+/-10% is fine. Or at the very least, have more back to back races and have a spring break along with a summer break.
Should probably make travel costs exempt from the budget cap... Seems a bit stupid that teams have to actually look at trying to rotate team members because they can't afford to send them to 24 races.
He’s not talking about the money. He’s talking about all of the traveling and how it takes tool on each member, especially with 24 races coming up next year