Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he is certain Max Verstappen did not support Red Bull’s attempt to overturn George Russell’s victory on Sunday.
Russell beat Verstappen to victory in the Canadian Grand Prix as the race finished under Safety Car conditions. The pair accused each other of breaking the rules during the final laps when the race was neutralised.
The stewards upheld Russell’s victory after dismissing Red Bull’s objections as “unfounded”. Red Bull also brought an unsuccessful protest against the Mercedes driver at the Miami Grand Prix a month earlier. “It’s so petty and so small,” said Wolff.
Red Bull originally brought multiple protests against Russell, Wolff explained. One, which was rejected by the stewards, accused Russell of “unsportsmanlike” driving. The team withdrew another protest, Wolff claimed, which related to Verstappen’s repeated claim Russell fell too far behind the Safety Car.
“They’ve done it in Miami, now they launched two protests, they took one back because it was ridiculous,” Wolff told Sky. “They come up with some weird ISC [International Sporting Code] clauses, sporting code clauses. I guess that everybody needs to look at that because it’s so far-fetched.
“That was rejected. You race, you win, and you lose on track. That was a fair victory for us, like so many they had in the past, and it’s just embarrassing.”
Wolff said he has no doubt Verstappen did not support either of Red Bull’s protests. “They actually pulled [one] protest, they didn’t even follow it through because it was nonsense,” he said.
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“And the second one took us five hours there because – I don’t know what, they referred to unsportsmanlike behaviour or something.
“What is it all about? Why do you know that? Who decides it? Because I’m 100% sure it’s not Max. He’s a racer. He would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing.”
Verstappen’s radio messages on Russell
| Lap: 68/70 VER: 2’05.276 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | After turn 10 The Safety Car is driving really slow, what is he doing? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Russell slows and Verstappen briefly passes him before dropping behind again George suddenly just aggressively braked. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Understood, thank you. We will check for any erratic driving. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 69/70 VER: 2’03.745 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | We can see that on our data stream as well, Max. Thank you for the info. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Russell drops back from the Safety Car, then accelerates That’s more than 10 car lengths also, there. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Okay, we will check that as well, thank you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Yeah, that incident with Russell now being shown on the feeds Max. So, pretty blatant. Just don’t fall for the gamesmanship, okay? Thank you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Safety Car through the pit lane, Max. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 70/70 VER: 2’06.683 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Russell drops back from the Safety Car, then accelerates Again, more than 10 car lengths, what is he doing? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Thank you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Way more than 10, look at this! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Yes, thank you Max. We’ll have a look. Cheers mate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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