Will Toto Wolff still be able to get a taxi on his next trip to Rome? The Mercedes boss has made himself unpopular in the Eternal City with a comment
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is known for his eloquence, but he might have thought twice about this snappy remark:
After world champion Max Verstappen once again went into Rambo mode in Barcelona and crashed into George Russell’s car, Wolff joked in a post-race interview that the Dutchman had driven “like an angry taxi driver in Rome”…
In the age of the internet and globalization, it didn’t take long for the comment to make its way to the Eternal City, or more precisely to the Rome Taxi Drivers’ Association, which subsequently accused the Silver Arrow boss of political incorrectness and spreading “false stereotypes.”
Taxi boss rages: Rome “much worse than an F1 track”
At least there was a touch of Italian humor: “We drive as slowly as Mercedes here in Rome,” joked Nicola Di Giacobbe, spokesman for a taxi union, referring to the Silver Arrows’ current sporting slump.
Wolff also had to listen to some criticism from the president of the taxi association, Loreno Bittarelli: “We are better than Formula 1 drivers, who wouldn’t even survive an hour in Rome’s city traffic,” the Italian ranted in the Corriere della Sera: “We drive between construction sites, motorcycles, e-scooters, and tourist buses. Rome is a jungle, much worse than a Formula 1 track.“
The cliché of aggressive taxi drivers used by Wolff is a fairy tale, however. ”We are the first ones who don’t want to cause accidents, because otherwise we lose our day’s work,” said Bittarelli.
At least Wolff can still hope for a little mercy in Ferrari country, after all, he has been the team boss of the only Italian in Formula 1 since this season. Kimi Antonelli is likely to put in a good word for the Viennese with his compatriots – otherwise, it remains to be seen whether Wolff will still be able to get a taxi the next time he visits the Italian capital…
