You may read in some of the English newspapers today about a supposed rift between Mercedes AMG Petronas executives Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda. This morning, when we reached the paddock in Abu Dhabi, we bumped into the team principals emerging from a meeting about engines with Bernie Ecclestone. Christian Horner and Cyril Abiteboul were all but hand-in-hand, despite the problems that have existed between Renault and Red Bull, but it was the two Mercedes chiefs who caught our attention, laughing and joking and suggesting that it would be a good idea to suggest to the world that all is well between them and they are close to becoming F1’s first high-profile same-sex couple. Clearly there was not much wrong between them. So we suggested that it would be a good idea for them to show the world that they are still mates. So, here it is, ladies and gentlemen, with no Photoshop involved, Niki and Toto “doing their thing” in the Abu Dhabi paddock. So what on earth could the newspapers have been on about – and why?
joeblogsf1 
Awesome….
Nice, love the red cap!
By the way, it is quite common in the Middle East for men to walk hand-in-hand. And to greet one another by touching the tips of their noses.
Great picture Joe thanks, if there is a rift between Toto & Niki, I wonder what it’s about. It cannot surely be as bad as what allegedly happened in Brazil where Ron Dennis who was not in Brazil saw Fernando & Jenson having fun on the podium during qualifying and immediately phoned Eric Boullier & told him in no uncertain terms to “get your drivers off the podium”.
Based on this picture it could also be that Toto is clutching a stone to throw at Niki and Niki is preventing him from doing it…! :p :p
Just a hilarious take… 😀
I believe that it’s the Daimler board that hasn’t been too keen on Niki and his blunt opinions. I think that they may have been the ones trying to push Niki out of the team.
I firmly believe that the team needs Niki and his racing driver perspective.
How many teams would have let Ross Brawn go? You can’t argue with the result though. Then again, somehow they manage with that power unit that their car is designed around. With the tech advantage they’d likely win with Wolff, Lauda or anyone relatively competent principal. They seem to have handled the driver battle better than Ferrari or Red Bull previously and you would think Lauda would bring insight into those decisions, so thanks Niki if that’s the case.
If this is the case, you have to wonder where Mercedes was over the past 30 years. I remember being surprised when Merc gave him the job.
Touching the tips of their what? Oh. Noses. That’s alright then.
“high-profile same-sex couple” You mean like… Austrian? 😉
As so often, I saw that headline elsewhere and just thought “well, we’ll see what joe has to say about that….”
Great to see the two of them “cocking a snook” at the World’s press! They look like an advert from a long time ago showing a girl and boy happily making their way to school, in the same attitude – was it for Bisto?!
Ted,
I reckon not so much Bisto kids as Start-rite shoes logo!
You are quite correct – old age!
Mr Johnson of the Telegraph, an editorial graduate entry in 2012 according to the paper; seems to have been duped into being part of one of Bernie’s “wedges”. However if Nicki leaves or retires over Christmas I will apologise to him.
Haha! Brilliant.
True story here: Niki walks into a restaurant in Vienna, has diner, and when he is finished he gets ready to walk away. The host comes to him and presents him with the bill.
Niki goes: “this is bullshit. Why should I pay in your restaurant? Just the fact that I walk in here, sit down and eat, means it is good publicity for your restaurant, which means to are already benefiting. So why should I pay?”
The guy is such an a***ole / and such a legend!
I am not sure if this topic is politically correct. Is this couple a known in the F1 circus already? If not, might this be an outing about a gay couple by the third party? If they are yet to make a coming out this post must be quite inconvenient for them, I am afraid. I would rather be relieved to know that this post is a staged joke.
It is not serious
J-O-K-E
To spell it out… (Sigh)
Thank you for the clarification and I am awfully sorry for overlooking the joke line completely. I will be more careful in the future.
There’s always one Joe.
Damn the modern PC world.
I blame Tony Blair!
Sigh!
Dude. Sense of humour. Buy one.
This guy must be trolling. That or one of those charming fellows who comments on a story without reading it.
Sorry, just the opposite. I was genuinely concerned about the story that I thought a third party would disclose personal secrets which could have been quoted by other news sites as a scandal. Alas I had read the original blog post wrongly (should be playing losing side on this).
Some how I think a guy that survived having half his faced burned off, his lungs burned among other injuries and then was nursing his helmet over his burns to race 6 weeks later could handle people not approving of a same sex relationship. Niki may call bullshit on your overly sensitive modern day P.C hooey.
Well said Andrew. Niki is so comfortable with himself. He says what he thinks and does what he wants. That’s why I like him so much.
What you are saying is actually a disrespect to Niki’s privacy. A great career as a GP racer and an airline entrepreneur that suggests his strong character is one thing and naively assuming based on that that such an independent person could handle an untimely outing by a third party is quite another.
This is enough. It was a joke and Niki was very happy with it. So was Toto. Beyond that, it’s all bull.
He’s probably scratching his head right now thinking it’s time to cull the herd.
get a life !
Wonderful picture! Thank you 😀
je suis explosée de rire par votre idée ^^
As we saw earlier in the year some F1 “journalists” can be very gullible so maybe Niki has been having some fun and his story has been swallowed hook.line and sinker by one of the naive press pack ?
You would be a complete idiot if you thought that this was not deliberately staged by all of us for fun. Read the story. It says it there. The gullible journalists are the ones who wrote the original story…
I believe he was referring to Nikki playing the press on the original story. Not this.
I think Susie will have a thing or two to talk with Toto about… Lol
Absolutely great Joe…. love the pic! re @owen hamilton – is that true that RD couldn’t see the funny side of FA & JB’s podium trip – sad guy!
It wouldn’t surprise me if Niki started the rumour just for laughs.
Lovely shot there Joe!
On a different subject Joe whats your view on the Renault/Lotus buyout, have Renault pushed Bernie to far, or do you see it still going through? I think a lot of peoples jobs could be on the line next week, Lotus personnel in particular!
It’s about time Formula One embraced LGBT!
Lotus Gets Bought Tomorrow?
It’s not that easy
Joe, your photo has just been shown on SKYF1. You were credited 🙂
According to Eddie Jordan, we won’t be seeing Alonzo and Ron Dennis repeating the above any time soon. Apparently Alonzo is undecided about contueing with McLaren if the car doesn’t improve before the start of next season.
Another lazy reader. You should read more carefully. It was actually Ron Dennis suggesting he would be open to Alonso taking a year off with the implication that if Honda isn’t going to be competitive next year anyway might as well save $40m on Alonso’s salary. Alonso said he’s not considering a sabbatical.
Then again Nick T, after saying that media should ask Ron to explain what Ron is saying, Alonso did say that he would see what the car was in testing and see from there. So he did, kind of, let the option of a “sabbatical” on possibly finding out that the car was not any great improvement.
I guess both of them are hinting to Honda that improvement is badly needed.
Simply fabulous Joe, fabulous!! Obviously two very secure men.
BUT…….I have known several couples who have kept their troubles completely under the radar until the divorce was announced, shocking one and all.
Unlikely here, but ya never really know!
Ha ha ha!
Grandpa hand in hand, with Grandson, going to the Bernie School…..
Saw this used with accreditation to yourself on the skyf1 qualifying coverage, great pic Joe. As always
Brilliant stuff. Shame there’s always one or two with sense of humour failure.
Oh Baaaaaaby! I gotta see Nico and Lewis really digging each other like that, man, with that cool hands together stuff.
…but why are they stepping on Joe’s name?
Just had the best laugh in weeks at that article, photo, and responses. And the image of the Tri-Colour bras on public display also helps bring things back to a better view after the recent terrible world events.
Thanks to Joe and all his loyal readers and fans!
I guess nothing is really THAT serious when it’s a game and you’re already making millions of $
F1 desperately needs:
– Niki Lauda saying whatever the hell he feels like saying
– Joe Seward’s perspective, sense of humor and camera
Sorry for the typo, Joe: Obviously meant Saward.
(wish WordPress allowed editing of comments…)
If i didn’t know any better i would say Grandpap is walking his grandson to school. Backpack and all.
Sorry couldn’t resist.
You write “…F1’s first high-profile same-sex couple.” So, there are already lower-profile same-sex couples in f1?? Not asking you to name or Out anyone, just interested if you are aware of any in the sport. From what I’ve seen, it can be a rather homophobic industry (Niki & Toto’s lighthearted antics a rare exception)
Joe, you write “…close to becoming F1’s first high-profile same-sex couple.” So, there are already lower-profile same-sex couples in F1? Not asking you to name or out anyone, just interested if you know of any GLBT people in the sport. From what I’ve seen, the industry is rather homophobic (Niki & Toto’s light-hearted antics an exception).
That is their own business…
Sadly most professional sport is homophobic. Note how many people only come out after retirement. It’s a shame. Of course there will be LGBT folk in F1. Perhaps even one who could well be described as somewhat high profile… But as Joe rightly says it’s their business not ours. I’m more interested in who has been stirring the pot re Mercedes. I guess time will tell.
It was all a joke!
Of course the photo was, a joke, and a good one.
But I was wondering who has been feeding stories about the supposed schism between Toto and Niki to the press? And why? Or are you saying that was a wind up by them!
Christian Horner. However journalists are supposed to write stories that are balanced and based on multiple sources. Sadly in this day and age they are all chasing headlines.
That’s one reason your work stands out. Thanks for not comprimising and ‘mailing it in’ which seems the modern standard (modern way – standard suggests criteria is required). The term journalist really does not apply to the majority of these modern day story spinners, did they intern, learn from seasoned veterans, follow a methodology fact checking and verifying sources etc. pay their dues out in the field ? No, they write catchy headlines and add filler.
Thank’s for the originality and steady stream of thought provoking content, not an easy task to come up with, especially the frequency. Always a worthwhile read and interesting comments. Enjoy the Terra Firma for a while and the R & R. Put some of those Parisian waiters back to work, they may be out of practice with their surly quips.
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