Christian Horner has confirmed to the media and Toto Wolff himself that his team intends to issue an official protest against Mercedes for a possible illegality of the rear wing that would allow it to gain top speed.
The relationship between Mercedes and Red Bull it is non-existent, as both formations are taking the rivalry for the world title to the extreme. There are already many examples of this throughout this season and the recent request from the team led by Toto Wolff to the FIA in relation to Max Verstappen’s defense of position in Interlagos is one more.
But this rivalry is far from over after appearing Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, directors of both teams, together before the media at the official FIA conference in Losail.
“What started as Olympic boxing became professional boxing, and now it’s an MMA fight”
«There is no relationship, there is a competition. And I think it was interesting to hear Toto’s views after the sprint race last week on his team radio, ”Horner began when asked about the relationship between the two.
“Fuck you all”Wolff shouted on radio after Lewis Hamilton came back last Saturday in the qualifying race in Brazil. Now, Horner ironizes with the behavior of his rival under pressure.
«We are going to push to the maximum. We work hard to get to this position. I think this is the first time they have been challenged. It is interesting to see how people react under pressure, how they react when challenged. It is by far the most intense political title fight we’ve been involved in in our time in the sport, ”he stresses.
The claim against Verstappen
Toto Wolff, for his part, wanted to be more vehement, noting that “there are a lot of great people working at Red Bull and obviously a lot of great people working at Mercedes, and it’s a hell of a fight. There’s a respect for Red Bull’s ability, definitely. And it is clear that this is hard, it is the World Championship of the highest category of motorsport ».
«What started as Olympic boxing became professional boxing, and now it is an MMA fight, but that’s okay. We are in the ring, trying to do the best job possible, “he said.
Likewise, Wolff has clarified the origin of the claim that Mercedes filed against Max Verstappen and that the FIA has denied. It’s more about principle and philosophy. Because if it stays that way, that means overtaking from the outside is hardly possible anymore, because the inside rider controls the corner completely.
“Now that’s the case, but before, when a car was next to you, you needed to leave the width of a car. So we just wanted to take it to the end, have a judgment on it and then adapt. if necessary for the last races. You can see that some of the pilots have expressed the same opinion.
Mercedes rear wing
But things will not end here, because in the three remaining races both teams will try to take advantage of any detail. Even Christian Horner anticipates that Red Bull will protest against the FIA by the rear wing of the Mercedes.
“Don’t worry, if we see him in the car here we will protest. It’s probably a minor factor here, although we obviously saw significant straight speed in the first session again, probably a 7km / h difference, ”he reported. “But particularly in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi you could have a situation like Brazil, where the car is simply unattainable.”
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Already in Brazil, Halmiton was disqualified from Friday’s classification due to anomalies in the DRS and Horner points out that “there are very specific regulations on this. I believe that it is something even more advanced, hidden, making it more difficult to detect from a camera. But you can see that the straight performance from Hungary, and particularly in the last two Grands Prix, has been exponential.
“That obviously worries us. And that’s why Adrian (Newey) and Paul (Monaghan) have been discussing it with the FIA. We will follow the situation and it will really depend on what happens this weekend, what we see and what analysis we have done. The stakes are high and we just want to make sure it is a balanced playing field, “he concluded.