EXPLAINED: F1 Journalist Gives Out More Details About Toto Wolff’s Email to FIA

Toto Wolff took the internet by storm when he radioed race director Michael Masi about an email right after Max Verstappen’s crash at the British Grand Prix.“Michael, I just sent you an email” -everyone wanted to know what was in this email. Between the red flag and the restart, Twitter frenzied over the conversation between the term principal and the race director. As the memes have died down and the dust has settled, what was in that email?

In Mercedes’ race debrief video, chief technical officer, James Allison explained, “We were concerned… to make sure that the stewards had read and were following the FIA’s internal guidance to stewards on the rights and wrongs of overtaking.”

Turns out, it was Toto Wolff’s concern as well. F1 journalist Christian Nimmervoll shared an infographic replicating Wolff’s diagram in the email.

The diagram explains what is expected of the drivers while overtaking. In a more detailed Facebook post, Nimmervoll explains, “the original was a photographed noted and the one I received from didn’t want this photographic version to be published like this.”

What is Toto Wolff trying to explain?

The Mercedes team principal justifies Lewis Hamilton’s controversial maneuver at Copse. Regardless of the fact that it is one of the fastest corners in the world, the incident had more to do with the rules and the FIA.

Toto Wolff‘s diagrams explain the FIA’s overtaking guide. Basically, if you’re in the inside corner, and are overtaking, the guidance requires that your car is “substantially alongside.” As opposed to the arguments on the internet, it does not require you to be in front of the car you are overtaking; you must be substantially alongside as you enter the corner.

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Mercedes argue Lewis was substantially alongside. Looking at all the angles, the team concluded that Hamilton’s front axle was beyond the midpoint of Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Another requirement of the FIA guide is that you must make the corner. This means that you cannot lose control over your car; you must go around the corner without leaving the track.

Having satisfied these two requirements, Toto Wolff argues the corner was Hamilton’s. therefore, he wasn’t expected to cede his position, nor should he have had to; it would be the other car’s duty to avoid a collision.

However, even after the frame-by-frame inspection, there has been no sure answer to the collision, and Christian Horner has demanded a further investigation of the crash. As fingers continue to get pointed, maybe one team will be silenced at the end of the Hungarian GP. It’s just a moment’s time before we find out who it will be.

Watch this story: F1 Drivers Fighting on Track