Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has successfully made Red Bull the “bad guys” this season with his media comments, Nico Rosberg believes.
While Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have been battling on track, the Austrian and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner have also been trading barbs off it throughout 2021.
Of course, the biggest flashpoint so far came at Silverstone, when Hamilton and Verstappen made contact on Lap 1, with the Dutchman smashing into the barrier at high speed.
Afterwards, Mercedes were quick to call out Red Bull bosses for their comments towards the Briton, even blaming them for the subsequent booing aimed at Hamilton in Hungary and calling for calm.
“I think Formula 1 needs content, and controversy, as long as it is around the sport, can be quite entertaining,” Wolff explained.
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“But there are certain boundaries we need to respect and the sport should unite and not create more polarisation, and especially in a sport that cannot be proud yet about its diversity and equality, and we just need to get the words right, and therefore let’s aim to de-escalate rather than to fuel.”
Earlier in the year, Wolff also highlighted Red Bull’s moaning after Mercedes noted the flexing rear wing on the RB16, with Toto going as far as calling Horner a “windbag”.
“I got annoyed in Baku, and that is not something that’s normally happening to me,” he told GPFans of that comment.
“On reflection, I want to concentrate my focus on the team and on myself, rather than be distracted by noise.”
Red Bull though believes the back and forth in the media has been a part of Wolff’s plan this season.
“They have put an awful lot of energy into that, more than you would expect – it’s been a clear strategy,” he told Motorsport.com.
“But I think it just shows they see us as a threat, and I think you’re doing something right when people start pointing fingers.”
After Silverstone, Mercedes also accused Red Bull of trying to “tarnish” Hamilton’s reputation, but Horner insisted that was not the case.
“The statement by Mercedes is a little antagonistic, shall we say, but I don’t really read too much into it,” he replied.
“It’s never been anything personal about a single driver. It’s about the events that happened, and a competition between two guys, it’s not individual to any driver.
“If that had been any other driver the reaction would have been identical. So, I was a little surprised by the Mercedes comments, but we’ve put that behind us.
“Of course we are competitors. but I have no issue with Toto. If he wants to come and talk things through, I have no issue with that,” he added.
“It is a competition and every department in our business is competing like for like against Mercedes, our drivers… throughout the whole team. We have seen the intensity of that competition so far this year.
“I am sure the second half is going to be just as fruity as the first half.”
Adding his view, 2016 F1 champion Rosberg appeared to agree with Horner that Wolff has been good at turning the story against Red Bull.
“Management is crucial and Toto has been managing it very well,” he told Sky Sports.
“He is really making Red Bull look like more and more the bad guys now with [them] trying to protest and all these things.
“He’s super-smart as well with playing the media game and also internally, really revving everyone up to try and beat them together.”