Toto Wolff and Christian Horner lock horns over "human error" claims

Toto Wolff during press conference in Russia — Photo: © LAT Images

Formula 1

Wolff and Horner lock horns over "human error" claims

The new pit stop technical directive has split opinion

Ewan Gale

Monday 4 October 2021 05:00

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Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have clashed over whether issues since the new pit stop technical directive was issued has caused an increase in human error within pit crews.

The new directive was introduced upon the return from the summer break with mechanics now forced to press a button on wheel guns to confirm their action has been completed instead of the previous fully automated systems some teams had employed.

In Italy, Red Bull suffered an 11 second stop for Max Verstappen which Horner labelled as a "human error" but speaking at the Russian Grand Prix, Wolff questioned whether that was possible.

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"You have to look at the whole process," said the Mercedes team principal.

"There is no such thing as a human error. There is this thing in how the process is designed, how the equipment is calibrated.

"So, that is what we need to look at, and we need to give the best possible wheel gun and the best possible process to the mechanics so they can operate in a safe way to avoid longer pit stops but equally be fast enough and that balance has always been tricky for all teams in Formula 1, ever."

Red Bull also had a slow stop with Sergio Perez in the Netherlands whilst McLaren struggled with a stop for Daniel Ricciardo at Sochi.

Horner responded to Wolff's claim by saying: "I think there is something called a human error and I think we saw one of those [in Monza].

"I think you always learn and I think you change your tools as well to try and make life easier, to build in fail-safes, whether it’s within software and so on, and I think the pit stop is an intrinsic part of a grand prix and you need to rely on a stationary time as part of your strategy.

"So obviously a lot of analysis goes into a failure at a pit stop as it would do on any component on the car.

"You try to learn from it, you try to put in fail-safes to deal with the situation should that reoccur."