Toto Wolff "ready" for Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost F1 title fight repeat with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen

Senna and Prost in Japan 1990 — Photo: © LAT Images

British Grand Prix

Wolff "ready" for Senna-Prost F1 title fight repeat with Hamilton and Verstappen

Hamilton and Verstappen collided at Silverstone

Sam Hall

Monday 19 July 2021 04:00 Updated: 10:36

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has declared himself ready for an F1 title rivalry to match that of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost following the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at Silverstone.

Senna and Prost is the F1 rivalry regarded by many to have been the most ferocious in the sport's history.

While team-mates at McLaren, the duo crashed into one another in a championship-deciding incident at Suzuka in 1989, sparking Prost's move to Ferrari, and a further title-determining clash at the same track a year later.

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After Hamilton's incident with Verstappen at the British Grand Prix, Wolff said of his eagerness for a similar fight: “Yeah. I am ready. Let’s go for this.

“This championship was always very intense because we are fighting with everything we have in order to hold on to it whilst knowing that we are not performing as well as Red Bull and Honda.

“Therefore, we have had big points losses in the past and here we scored big points so that is always balancing itself out.”

Wolff "okay" with extreme Hamilton criticism from Horner

Despite being handed a 10-second penalty by the stewards for the incident, Hamilton went on to clinch a record-extending eighth home victory.

It prompted Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to brand Hamilton as "desperate" and "dangerous".

Wolff, though, refused to take the bait. “Everybody has an opinion and that is okay," added Wolff. "Of course, everybody, every team, will have a certain bias towards incidents like that.”

Horner jumped on the radio soon after the crash and made clear to FIA race director Michael Masi what he thought of the incident, believing it required a heavy penalty.

In response, Wolff said he had sent Masi an email, highlighting the regulations.

Masi declared himself too busy to have opened it and urged Wolff to make clear his feelings to the stewards instead.

Regarding his visit, and making a clear reference to Horner's radio remarks to Masi, Wolff said: “I was told that there was a rant on the radio about all the badness in the world, then I went up and gave my opinion.

“I think it is fair enough. I have been to the stewards many times in my life.”