Formula 1

WOLFF COUNTERS ACCUSATIONS HORNER

Published

3 years ago

06/09/2020

Toto Wolff has countered comments from Christian Horner that Mercedes is favouring Lewis Hamilton over Valtteri Bottas this year to ensure the Briton wins his record-equalling seventh Formula 1 world title.

Christian Horner made a striking statement this weekend. According to him, it was clear that Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was ahead of Valtteri Bottas and the fact that they did not bring Bottas into Spa for a second pit stop would be proof of that. Reason for a reply from Toto Wolff.

“I spoke to Christian about this and I told him that if we knew that the two-stop strategy would be faster, we would bring Lewis in too, so in hindsight it is simple. In any case, if we had decided for the two stops we would have lost a position against Max, so there would have been the unknown factor of having to overtake on the track”, sounds Wolff’s statement to Motorsport.com.

But Wolff was not satisfied with just an explanation in this case. The accusation made against him could account for a peppered counter-attack. Horner would not have been completely honest with his remark and insinuate things that are not right.

“So I asked Horner: ‘Why didn’t you bring Max in a second time, and he replied that they weren’t sure he could catch up with Ricciardo on the track… Well, hello, it’s exactly the same situation! One driver does not have priority over another, we have always played in a completely open, transparent and fair manner, and we will continue to do so’.

WOLFF COUNTERS ACCUSATIONS HORNER WOLFF COUNTERS ACCUSATIONS HORNER