LUSAIL, Qatar — Formula One’s title battle spilled off the track and into the news conference room on Friday at the Qatar Grand Prix, as rival team principals Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Christian Horner (Red Bull) were pitched against each other in a war of words ahead of this weekend’s race.
The two team bosses covered a number of topics, from Mercedes’ failed request for a review of the incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in Brazil to the strained personal relationship between the two.
We have compiled the best bits from the 30-minute session, as well as analysing what some of it might mean for the final three races.
On the Brazilian GP
Full verdict: FIA rejects Mercedes’ request for Verstappen-Hamilton review
As Wolff and Horner were speaking to the media, the FIA released the stewards’ decision not to review the incident between Verstappen and Hamilton on Lap 48 of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Mercedes believed footage from Verstappen’s onboard camera, which was not available to the stewards at the time, warranted a full investigation. But after the relevant parties put their cases forward in a videoconference on Thursday, the stewards decided the footage did not meet the criteria necessary to open a full review of the incident.
Before the decision was announced, Wolff said his team did not expect the stewards to follow through and issue a retrospective penalty to Verstappen, but instead wanted clarity on what was allowed in terms of wheel-to-wheel racing.
“We don’t expect to gain anything from the right of review, to be honest,” Wolff said. “It’s more about the principle and the philosophy, because if it stays that way, it means overtaking from the outside is pretty much not possible anymore because it means the inside controls the corner completely.
“Now, that is anyway the case, but as it was before when a car is next to you, you need to leave a space, and now that’s not the case.
“So we just want to take it to the end, have a…
Source : espn
