Christian Horner warns Toto Wolff to 'keep his mouth shut' as wing controversy grows

Hamilton driving his Mercedes in Baku — Photo: © LAT Images

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Horner warns Wolff to 'keep his mouth shut' as wing controversy grows

Threat of front-wing protest now hangs over world champions Mercedes

Will Gray

Friday 4 June 2021 16:26 Updated: 16:31

Christian Horner has warned Toto Wolff to 'keep his mouth shut' and “be careful what you wish for” after hinting Red Bull could protest Mercedes' flexible front wings.

Wolff has been strongly critical of Red Bull's flexible rear-wing concept which has led to a revision of the load tests to be introduced at the next race in France.

Horner believes, however, Mercedes may be pushing the boundaries of the rules at both ends of its cars and warned his rival: “If I were Toto, with the front wing he has got on his car, I’d keep my mouth shut.”

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After seeing footage on Sky Sports F1 of the rear wing on the Mercedes during first practice in Baku, Horner said: “That, if anything around here, looks maybe a bit worse than ours.”

A subsequent analysis of footage showing the Mercedes front wing then led Horner to explain: “You can see the sponsorship on the front wing and then it disappears as he comes into a braking area.”

FIA to look at Mercedes front wing?

Horner did not confirm whether Red Bull has asked the FIA to look at Mercedes' front wing but said: “Obviously a lot of noise has been made about the rear wing and a lot of revisions have had to be made.

“If you’re picking on one end you have to look at the other. You can’t look at one part in isolation and say ‘Oh, that set of rules only applies to that element on that car’. You have to look at all areas.

“Sometimes you have to be a bit careful what you wish for.

“You’re opening a complete can of worms, and that’s why there are stringent tests in place. All cars have a degree of flexibility. It’s impossible to make an entirely rigid structure when you have tonnes of downforce applied to it.

“The rules have to evolve. You have some very bright technicians that are designing components to comply with the rules, that’s what we pay them for, that’s what Formula 1’s all about, that engineering ingenuity.

“You’ve got to be legal, you’ve got to be within the rules, but you have got to push those boundaries and that’s what we like every other team in the pitlane does.”