F1 News: Mercedes’ Toto Wolff Returns Fire After Red Bull After “Illegal” Comments

The off-track battle between Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Mercedes’ Toto Wolff rages on as Horner accuses the new Mercedes F1 car design as being illegal thanks to its new lack of sidepods.

This is a significant change over last year’s car, and even over the Mercedes we saw at Barcelona testing only weeks ago. But according to reports, Horner was quick to point out any potential illegalities on the W13, claiming the car was against the spirit of the new regulations.

Los no pontones de Mercedes . Queee???

The no sidepods of Mercedes . Whaaat?????#f12022 pic.twitter.com/WSlesjHOWf

— Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega) March 10, 2022

Of course, Red Bull was quick to tell the press the following: “Please note, Christian has not spoken with any media or made any comments about the Mercedes car.” Later on, it added that the team had made “no official comment regarding Mercedes’ car and will not be doing so.”

Now, Wolff has hit back, telling The Express the following:

“How does he know half an hour after he saw the car for the first time that our car is supposed to be illegal?”

Horner eventually followed this up:

“I was slightly surprised to be reading comments I’m supposed to have been making, but there we go,” Horner told Sky F1.

“I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to [the Mercedes]. It’s obviously a fairly different concept, but that’s for the designer guys and aerodynamicists to get into.

“Let the guys digest it and understand it.”