Team boss Toto Wolff lashes out at Red Bull and calls the Canada protest “embarrassing” – Why Mercedes is reacting so strongly and Horner still has no regrets
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has sharply criticized Red Bull for protesting George Russell’s victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, calling the action “petty and embarrassing.” Russell claimed his first Grand Prix victory of the season in Montreal – as did Mercedes – beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The race ended behind the safety car after Lando Norris crashed.
However, after the race, Red Bull lodged a double protest against Russell. They accused him of deliberately driving erratically under the late safety car to provoke Verstappen into overtaking. They also claimed that Russell had failed to leave more than ten car lengths between himself and the safety car.
At the premiere of the F1 film in New York, Mercedes team boss Wolff said Red Bull’s delayed protest – which meant that the race result was not officially confirmed until five hours after the end of the race – was “embarrassing” for their rivals.
Wolff: Red Bull should take it in stride
“First of all, it took the Red Bull Racing team two hours to even lodge a protest – that was their decision. Honestly, it’s so petty and so insignificant,” Wolff told Sky. “They did the same thing in Miami. Now they’ve lodged two protests. They withdrew one because it was ridiculous.”
“They come up with some strange clauses – or at least call them that. I think the FIA needs to take a closer look at this because it was so far-fetched that it was rejected. You drive, you win, you lose on the track. It was a fair victory for us – just as they have celebrated many fair victories in the past. And now this is just embarrassing.”
