“The Most Unfortunate Mistake of a Race Director” – Wolff Comes to the Rescue of Lewis Hamilton Amidst Ongoing Controversy

FIA recently revealed that they will be penalizing drivers who wear jewelry while driving the F1 car. Many had assumed that this rule is being implemented for Lewis Hamilton as he wears piercing on his body. Now Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is also chiming in with his opinion on the latest controversy.

Wolff was really complimentary of how Nils Wittich, FIA Race Director, has managed the first three races of the season. But he questioned whether he needs to point out this rule and create a controversy.

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Mercedes‘s team boss was very critical of the previous race director Michael Masi last season. He was relentless in his criticism of the Aussie, which eventually led to Masi losing his job.

Toto Wolff gives his take on the jewelry controversy after Melbourne

Hamilton, too, felt like in Melbourne that the FIA was specifically targeting him with the rule. But this rule has been in the sporting regulations for more than a decade.

Wolff revealed Wittich has impressed him this season, but the jewelry rule could be his first mistake of the season.

“The way he’s run these first few races has been pretty solid and respectful. He hasn’t made a single mistake so far. I do wonder if we need to have a battle over the jewelry ban at this point, though,” said Wolff.

“However, if this controversy of the jewels turns out to be the most unfortunate mistake of a race director, I would accept it a thousand times,” said the Mercedes team principal.

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Hamilton had mentioned that he would continue to wear his jewelry despite the FIA ban. It would be difficult for the 7-time world champion to change his lifestyle just because of the FIA ban.

Also, it makes no sense to remove all the piercing on the body just because of the rule. So it would be interesting to see how Wittich and FIA implement this rule into existence. It is unclear what would be the logical penalty if Lewis refuses to not follow the rule.