F1 News: Toto Wolff Angered By Fans And Journalists After Las Vegas Disaster - "This Is Nothing"

Toto Wolff's reaction to the Las Vegas GP practice incident highlights a broader perspective on the event's significance, urging a focus on the sport's evolution and achievements over isolated mishaps.

Mercedes' Toto Wolff provided a unique perspective on the disruptive incident during the Las Vegas Grand Prix's first free practice, focusing on the event's significance and downplaying the impact of a loose water valve cover that damaged a Ferrari car.

Key Takeaways:

• Wolff's Broad Perspective: Unlike his Ferrari counterpart, Toto Wolff chose to highlight the Las Vegas GP's overall spectacle and importance, suggesting the incident's impact was minimal in the larger context of Formula 1's evolution.
• Response to Media Focus: Wolff criticised the media's emphasis on the negative aspects, urging them to recognise the event's successes and the efforts of the organisers in elevating the sport.
• Safety and Future Measures: While acknowledging the incident's seriousness, Wolff emphasised the need for a balanced view, focusing on ensuring such incidents are avoided in the future without overshadowing the sport's advancements.

In the wake of a startling incident during the Las Vegas Grand Prix's first free practice session, where a Ferrari car suffered significant damage due to a loose water valve cover, Mercedes' Toto Wolff offered a contrasting perspective. Far from echoing Fred Vasseur's fury, Wolff focused on the grand spectacle of the event, describing it as setting "new standards" for the sport.

Wolff's reaction was particularly notable in its broad view of the situation. While he acknowledged the incident's severity, he emphasised the transient nature of such issues, recalling similar past occurrences in Formula 1 to contextualise the event. 

"It's like Fred said, this is a mega spectacle. It will set a new standard for the sport, and that's important.

"Then we have track action action and a drain cover that's become undone. There was another, I remember Williams 2012, I think we had it in DTM, which nearly exploded the car.

"I saw the picture, it is a part of the concrete that was broken out. It's a shame for the people here but these things can happen," Wolff admitted.

Addressing the potential for negative press and image damage to Formula 1, Wolff was forthright in his criticism of the media's focus on the mishap. 

"This is nothing. We are on Thursday night. We have a free practice session one that we are not doing. 

"They're going to seal the drain covers and nobody's going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore. It's completely ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. FP1, how can you even dare to try to talk bad about an event that sets new standards, new standards to everything? 

"And then you're speaking about a f****** drain cover that's been undone, that has happened before. That's nothing."

He continued:

"Give credit to the people that have set up this Grand Prix, that have made this sport much bigger than it ever was. Have you ever spoken good about someone and written a good word?

"You should about all these people that have been out there. Liberty has done an awesome job. 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, it could have been dangerous. So between the FIA and the track, 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."