Mercedes claim "mortar shells going in both directions" in Red Bull fight

Horner and Wolff in Qatar — Photo: © LAT Images

Qatar Grand Prix

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Mercedes claim "mortar shells going in both directions" in Red Bull fight

Mercedes and Red Bull have been sparring both on and off the track

Sam Hall

Friday 19 November 2021 17:06

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Andrew Shovlin has claimed "mortar shells" are currently being launched between Mercedes and Red Bull as the F1 title fight draws to a conclusion.

The sport is in the midst of its tightest battle for years, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton duelling hard on track while team principals Toto Wolff and Christian Horner fire verbal volleys at one another off it.

Assessing the war being waged, speaking to Sky Sports F1, trackside engineering director Shovlin said: "There are a few mortar shells going across in both directions probably but the team has really come together.

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"What was encouraging to see was with a weekend like we just had in Brazil, with so many distractions in so many different areas, whether it was with the team, with Lewis, it was just heads down and get on with the job.

“We have shown the car has the pace to do that. Brazil was fantastic for our confidence that we can bring both of these championships home.”

Mercedes rear-wing "story" constantly checked by FIA

In a heated exchange in Friday's team principals' press conference, during which Mercedes learned its right-to-review petition regarding Verstappen's actions in Brazil had been denied, Horner claimed Mercedes rear wing could yet be protested.

That was after score marks were noticed on the endplates, suggesting the body was potentially flexing and providing the W12s with greater straight-line speed.

Following a check on the rear wings after Valtteri Bottas had topped FP2, Shovlin denied he had spotted any such markings.

“We’ve had a look at it and there are no score marks so we’re not quite sure what that is but it seems to be a bit of a story that’s not going away," explained Shovlin.

“From our point of view, we’re absolutely happy with what we’ve got on our car. We’ve invited the FIA to look at it as much as they want.

"They don’t have any issue with what we’ve got and we go to every circuit, we look at what the fastest wing we have is and that is the one that we’ll bolt to the car and that is what we’ll keep doing.”

Confirming Mercedes had not made changes to its rear wing between Brazil and Qatar, he added: "As I said, we’ll work out what is fastest, we’ll stick it on the car and we’ll not take advice from another team.”