© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff answers Christian Horner and Helmut Marko who said Red Bull is “not treated the same” as Mercedes by the FIA.
After the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Toto Wolff gave his verdict on Max Verstappen’s questionable defending manoeuvers.
“Some of the other turn one, turn two incidents, it was a little bit like Brazil reloaded in miniature,” the Austrian said.
At the Brazilian Grand Prix the FIA decided not to penalise Verstappen after he pushed Lewis Hamilton wide and off the track, but at Jeddah he was asked to give the positon back to Lewis and received a five-second penalty for a similar incident.
This prompted Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko to say that his team was “not treated the same” as Mercedes by the FIA. Toto Wolff responds to those comments.
“You need to dig quite deep to come up with things that went against Max on Sunday! I can’t comment on what they have said.
“I think, in Brazil we felt that it was harsh against us with a disqualification for the sprint race and who would have thought that we could come back.
“I think that Lewis could have scored three points in that sprint race and didn’t score any and that could be valuable points.
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“Someone is always going to be unhappy about things. I am trying to withhold my bias still to try to see it and look at things with common sense. But I guess I am not always successful in the heat of the moment.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner also criticised race director Michael Masi after the race and said “it felt like today the sport missed [former race director] Charlie Whiting”.
Wolff however offered his support to Masi.
“I think we had confusion. I would have wished that the red flag wouldn’t have been taken at the beginning of the race.
“It is where I thought that we had lost the race and that clearly was also a judgemental call when some of the advertising on a barrier is ripped off that you stop the race. But it is what it is.
“There was so much on, so many things to judge and I wouldn’t want to be in either Michael’s seat nor the stewards’ seats today because you are always looking stupid if you make a mistake and if there are 100 decisions to make, there may be some that are wrong or controversial.
“I think we just need to learn from that,” concluded Wolff.
