Jordan blasts ‘disingenuous and crass’ Wolff: “Be a man”
Mercedes’ lacklustre start to F1 2023 led Wolff to admit his team made a mistake in continuing to pursue their unique ‘zero sidepod’ concept.
Wolff demanded “radical” changes after Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and over 50 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s dominant Red Bull in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Austrian bemoaned the Bahrain GP as one of his “worst days in racing”, while Hamilton had earlier described Mercedes’ current concept as being “on the wrong track”.
But Wolff’s public comments have not impressed Jordan.
“He’s the CEO, he’s the boss. The buck stops with him. This is happening under his watch,” Jordan said on the Formula For Success podcast.
“To blame or criticise anybody in his design team is actually disingenuous. It’s really crass.
“I hate to hear that, because he must be a man, stand up and take it on the chin and say, ‘my team, my people, we have failed to get the job successfully done at this moment. However, there are times ahead that we’re looking forward to and we will be there much stronger than we were in 2022’.
“I think that Toto is strong enough, big enough and man enough to front this up and actually sort it out.”
Respected F1 technical expert Craig Scarborough has warned that Hamilton and Wolff’s “snappy comments” risk leading to a “civil war” at Mercedes.
Mercedes, who sit third in the F1 2023 constructors’ standings, will be aiming for an improvement at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
