© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says the stewards’ decision not to penalise Max Verstappen for pushing Lewis Hamilton off the track is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
It seems like every decision the FIA has made during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend has went against Mercedes.
First Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from Friday’s Qualifying because of an infringement with his car’s rear wing, which even the FIA noted was not intentional, while at the same time Max Verstappen received only a fine for touching that very same rear wing in parc ferme.
Then in the race the stewards decided not to penalise Verstappen for going wide and intentionally pushing Hamilton off the track. To top it all off, after the race they fined Lewis for undoing his seat belt during the cooldown lap.
During his post-race media sessions, Toto Wolff said the “whole weekend went against” Mercedes.
“I think we’ve just had many, many punches in the face this weekend with decisions that could have swung either side against us or for us,” the Austrian said.
“It’s just something that I’m just angry about and I will defend my team, my drivers to what comes. I’ve been always very diplomatic in how I discuss things, but diplomacy has ended today.
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
“I mean the whole weekend went against us. We had a broken part on our rear wing which we couldn’t look at, couldn’t analyse, failed the test, and after disqualified, very harsh.
“And then you see on the Red Bull repairs, three times in a row on a rear wing whilst being in parc ferme with no consequence.
“That’s one thing, and obviously that really peaked with the decision in the race, which was, I mean, really wrong defence from Max, absolutely an inch over the limit, but he needed to do that to defend.
“Lewis just managed it even more brilliantly by avoiding the contact and end the race that way. But that was just over the line, it should have been a five-second penalty at least.
“Probably Max knew that. Just brushing it under the carpet, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just laughable.”
Wolff was then asked what he thought the decision would have been if it was Hamilton in Verstappen’s place.
“I don’t want to claim anything on the stewards. I think they have a difficult life anyway. And they are only there to lose, whatever decision they take, one team is going to be grumpy.
“In that respect, I don’t want to be in this chair. But in a certain way, when you’re taking punches all weekend, and then you have such a situation on top of everything, you’re just losing faith in a way.”
The Austrian added he doesn’t have a problem with hard racing, as long as the rules are applied consistently.
“Whatever is in the director’s notes, we’re going to accept. I’m also OK if the director’s notes are going to be shredded and we just race hard like we did today, fine.
“But if the director’s notes say that you cannot push anybody off the track in Mexico, and then obviously that’s valid here too, and then you’re actually being driven off the track, it’s just not very consistent.
“My discussion with the race director was not broadcasted, but my reaction was. We feel we’ll discuss it behind closed doors,” Wolff concluded.
