Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has compared Red Bull’s Christian Horner to a man driving the wrong way down a car as both bosses prepare for the Formula One title decider in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Horner on Friday framed the battle between his Dutchman Max Verstappen and seven-time world champion Wolff’s Lewis Hamilton as pitting a ‘young man’ against a ‘Mercedes media machine’ describes him as ‘Mad Max’.
Wolff, an Austrian, said he recalled a joke about a person calling the radio after a warning alerted him about someone driving in the opposite direction of traffic.
“One? There are hundreds of them,” said the caller.
“So I think it was the media machine or everyone who commented on the driving and had the same opinion,” says Wolff.
Verstappen, tied on points with Hamilton but leading 9-8 in race victory, went into the final race of the season as pole.
There have been concerns in the making that the title could be decided by a clash between the two contenders, who have appeared together three times this season.
Mercedes is not alone in questioning Verstappen’s aggressive approach.
