Red Bull raised concerns over the legality of Mercedes’ rear wing design in Brazil last weekend after Lewis noted Hamilton’s speed advantage when traveling straight ahead over the rest of the field, creating mounting tensions between the championship-fighting teams.
Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner claimed on Friday that the markings next to the main aircraft on the Mercedes tail wing were “from wings that have bent” and signaled that his team was ready to file a protest.
Horner asked Mercedes colleague Wolff during the FIA press conference on Friday how he would explain the scores, to which Wolff replied: “I think it is within the scope of what is allowed.”
Mercedes track engineer Andrew Shovlin said the team had “invited the FIA to watch this as often as they want” and that officials “have no problem with what we have”.
Wolff was asked by Motorsport.com on Saturday for pictures of the rear wing, which Red Bull claimed showed the points but dismissed it as a “ghost”.
“I don’t know where you got this photo from and what it actually shows,” said Wolff. “It’s a ghost.”
Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
The FIA confirmed on Saturday in Qatar that, as part of a fact-finding mission, it had introduced additional load tests for rear wings after qualifying, which “are not part of the official requirements”.
Horner welcomed the tests and said they were doing their job.
In Brazilian qualifying, Hamilton’s highest speed trap was 327.5 km / h, compared to 318.3 km / h for Verstappen. Hamilton reached 323.9 km / h in qualifying in Qatar, Verstappen reached 320.5 km / h.
“Interestingly, the track here is less sensitive to performance, and I think you just did a good job,” said Wolff, explaining the speed on the straight.
“Your straight-ahead speed with the big wing is the same as ours. So yeah, I’m glad you are happy.
“Let’s go to Saudi Arabia and maybe we’ll hear a few more comments. In a way, I can no longer follow the debates that are started or started.
“We are struggling to keep up with commenting on the rumors being made from this site.”
When asked whether Horner’s statements could indicate that the threat of protest had been averted, Wolff said: “It could be, I don’t know what you’re up to.
“As I said before, I can’t follow the thinking, I can’t follow the thinking in some ways. It seems unpredictable.
“But that’s fine. I don’t even want to pour oil on the flames anymore. We try to look at ourselves and try to do the best job possible.
“We’re still 14 points behind, we have to have a good race tomorrow. That counts.”
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