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Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff had hit back at Red Bull’s Christian Horner’s comments during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, calling him a “windbag who wants to be on camera”.
Mercedes has made its grievance known about Red Bull’s controversial rear wing, believing, along with its customer team McLaren, that the rear wing is against the rules, but Red Bull insists it’s legal.
The FIA has informed the teams that more stringent load tests will be introduced at the next round, at the French GP. Red Bull and teams with similar rear wings have defended their designs, as they’ve passed the FIA’s initial load tests.
Red Bull team boss Horner went further following Baku practice on Friday afternoon, telling SkySportsF1 that he would “keep my mouth shut” if he was Wolff because of Mercedes’ front wing design.
After final practice on Saturday morning, SkySportsF1 asked Wolff for his thoughts on Horner’s comments.
“Christian is a bit of a windbag, who wants to be on camera,” Wolff told them.
Things are getting 𝗳𝗲𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆 between the title-challenging team bosses amid the flexi-wing dispute 😳🔥#SkyF1 #AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/X8nU78HiX9
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 5, 2021
“It’s easy to be punchy when you’re at the top of the timesheet. But he should be a little modest, I think.”
The threat of a protest remains, with Mercedes and McLaren unhappy by the more stringent load tests being not implemented this weekend already.
The FIA has introduced stickers onto the rear wings of the cars in Baku, to further monitor the movement of the rear wings.
Asked about the possibility of the protest, Wolff said: “I think the topic remains open.
“The last one [protest] taken out on the front wing flex was Red Bull, 2014, so he has a bit of a track record there but anyway, you just have to get on with things.”
