British GP | Wolff plays mind games against Ferrari: "Deliberate or incompetence?"
Wolff shares his views on the Hamilton-Raikkonen incident during the first lap in harsh fashion.
Shots are fired by Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after the race. Lewis Hamilton was hit by Kimi Raikkonen in the first lap thrill, which caused him to spin and drop towards the bottom of the pack. The Briton managed to carve through the field and finished 2nd, but the Austrian manager vents his frustration on the microphone by taunting Ferrari.
Asked by Sky Sports about his view on the collision between the Ferrari driver and Hamilton, Wolff said. “A racing incident. Unfortunate because Le Castellet first time we got taken out and now it is the second time we got taken out.”
“It is a lot of constructor points. In James Allison’s words, 'do you think it is deliberate or incompetence?'. So this leaves us with a judgement.”
Additionally, Hamilton commented: “Interesting tactics I would say from their side, but we will do what we can to fight them and improve in the next races.”
Both accusations sound rather grave, but they appear to be part of a subtle mind game Mercedes is playing, now that Ferrari is no longer the underdog. The Maranello-based team is now 20 points ahead of the German team in the constructors’ championship with 287 against 267, whereas Vettel leads the drivers’ standings by 8 points.
One of the main talking points today was the strategy, deriving from the first Safety car, which turned out to be the game changer. Both Ferrari drivers pitted, taking full advantage of the race being frozen, while Mercedes kept both cars out. Wolff is adamant that the call Mercedes made was effective and correct, in terms of recovery.
“I think it worked because we gained track position,” he said. “At the end we had a two and four, and that was better than where we were running before. I think it was absolutely the right call. Nevertheless we knew it was going to be very difficult in the end.” he said.
Regarding Wolff and Allison's remarks, Arrivabene fired back while being interviewed on Sky Italy. “If Allison really said it, he should be ashamed. He worked in Maranello for many years. You need to be elegant and polite. We are in England, where they want to teach us how to act as gentlemen so he should act as one first. It just irritates me, who’s incompetent? Kimi? Who is he to judge?”
It looks like the feud between Ferrari and Mercedes is far from over, as both team principal are not sparing any harsh words for each other. James Allison's figure being brought up due to such declarations certainly stands for a sign of betrayal for the Italian outfit.