Mercedes team boss says gentlemen's agreements are off now

Mercedes team boss says gentlemen's agreements are off now
14 November 2021 by    2 min read
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Nov.14 - The intense 2021 title battle is only getting more fiery and controversial as the track action heats up in Brazil.

On Saturday, the major talking point was the separate stewards investigations involving championship protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

After securing pole on Friday, Mercedes' Hamilton was disqualified for a breach of the size of the DRS opening slot on his rear wing.

But Red Bull's Verstappen was also given a hefty slap on the wrist with a EUR 50,000 fine for touching the offending rear wing as Hamilton celebrated with his crew in parc ferme.

"That's ok. It's a big penalty but essentially it was only a foul, so we can accept that," Dr Helmut Marko told Sky Deutschland.

"What's incredible is that Mercedes now claims that Max allegedly damaged the rear wing with his fingers," he also told f1-insider.com.

So after Hamilton clawed his way back to fifth at the chequered flag of the Interlagos sprint race, his boss Toto Wolff went on the radio to declare: "Amazing job, Lewis. F**k them all."

When asked about that afterwards, the Mercedes chief said: "It wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, it was more about the general mindset.

"Tough circumstances are best met with resilience."

Wolff claims the disqualification was an extreme and uncharacteristic punishment by the FIA.

"In the last few years from them it was always 'Fix this and fix that'. We saw that last weekend with Red Bull and many times before that too," he said.

"But we were not allowed to do that. What is clear is that we do not have an illegal wing. It was a failure on the right side by 0.2mm. That means we actually had a performance disadvantage.

"At the end of the day there is a technical directive in black and white. We accept that."

Wolff said he therefore would not waste time with an official protest, but instead try to find the same sort of tiny problems with Verstappen's car for the rest of the 2021 battle.

"We will look at every single bit of tape that falls off," said the Austrian. "I can promise that we will be asking a lot of questions in the next races."

Wolff also hit out at Red Bull for instigating the affair.

"There was once something like a gentleman's agreement. Obviously there are no longer any gentlemen," he charged.

"But today Lewis overtook 16 cars and Valtteri controlled the sprint after the start. It's nice to forget politics for a moment."

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10 F1 Fan comments on “Mercedes team boss says gentlemen's agreements are off now”

  1. shroppyfly

    A few weeks ago Hamish was saying , that f1 drivers should be carefull what they say because children of the world are listening, "Sounds very Michael Jacksonish to me but anyway ", IE swearing on the radio, now the Ultra professional, highly respected, and Team Owner swears on the radio,doesn't apologize for doing so ,and basically says yeah well whatever..you cant make it up.

    Interestingly, there are directives and regulations for everything in F1, but swearing on all sides seems Non punishable

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    • Ray Casbourn

      I agree completely with this comment.Furthermore I believe F1 is getting out of shape and form. I cannot a d never have believed that Hamilton is that good. There are former world champions in F1 for God's sake. From 20th to 5th ? Come on when are teams and the FIA going to wake up?

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      • Jax

        "I cannot a d never have believed that Hamilton is that good." Lol Another person in a state of shock when the most talented driver in a good car with a fresh engine jumps from last to fifth in 24 laps. After all these years their brain still can't fathom. But then again it is spectacular to witness his feats.
        I wonder if Bottas could've done the same thing?! 😏

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  2. Erwin V Meirvenne

    The Mercedes speed is from another planet. Everyone had the same strategy, which makes the cars more equal and harder to overtake . Only one car was able to go 15 to 20mph faster in the straights. Strange to say the least.

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  3. Les

    Wolff is talking shit. Red Bull fixed their rear wing with tape before running it in qualifying.Mercedes rear wing was illegal after qualifying, a clear breach and correct to disqualify.
    Other teams have been penalised for breaches eg Vettel fuel , Vettel and Ricciardo wing flexing too much.

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