Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he is “surprised” that the FIA has decided not to investigate McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo after cutting off the wheel of Valtteri Bottas during the Mexican Grand Prix and ruining the Finn’s race.
After Bottas had driven a brilliant lap in qualifying, Bottas started from pole position on Sunday, but fell behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton after a slow start in the long run to Turn 1.
Both Mercedes drivers were then caught napping when Max Verstappen swept around them outside to take the lead, with Bottas behind.
The disaster then quickly hit the corner of Turn 1 when Ricciardo jammed the rear wheel of the Mercedes in Turns 2 and 3 and spun Finn around.
The incident ruined Bottas’ race when he fell back on the last field in Mexico, leaving his teammate Hamilton alone.
However, the stewards decided against opening an investigation into the incident.
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Mercedes lost a lot of championship points in the fight against Red Bull as a result of the incident, and boss Wolff was surprised by the stewards’ decision.
When asked whether an investigation should have been initiated, Wolff said: “Yes, I think the law enforcement officers should have looked at it, but at this point in time.
“In retrospect, it was surprising that they didn’t look for a penalty.”
The incident was similar to that in Turkey, where Pierre Gasly was hit with a five-second time penalty for going nuts and dropping Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.
Often at the start of the race, any contact is counted as a race incident and many wonder why Gasly was then penalized.
When asked whether the stewards had any problems with the consistency, FIA Race Director Michael Masi said: “No, I don’t think that there is a lack of consistency, as you have to check everything for certain advantages.
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“You have to look at every single incident and see how it goes. For starters, Turkey was wet, this was dry. Completely different corner configuration. There are a lot of things.
“But as I said, I haven’t looked at the incident so closely.”
He added, “When you look at the proximity of the cars, where they are all compared, there are a lot of different factors at play.
“The stewards were of the opinion that this time it was a racing incident at Turn 1.”
Bottas, who finished 15th, added after the race that it was a “really tricky” day in the office.
“He really ruined my day today,” Bottas said jokingly. “Of course I’m sure he didn’t take the first goal on purpose and that affected his race too.
“But it wasn’t ideal for my race today. I was stuck behind cars I couldn’t get past and it was really, really tricky.
“[We were] The engine and brake temperatures were also quite limited, so that I couldn’t attack for many laps in a row. So I had to go back and forth and couldn’t find a way to move forward. “
Max Verstappen is now 19 points ahead of Hamilton in the drivers ‘standings, while Mercedes is just one point ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
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