Toto Wolff outlines moment he suddenly disagreed with Christian Horner on superior F1 car

Hamilton v Verstappen: Their careers in numbers

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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has pinpointed the moment he suddenly disagreed with his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, on who benefits from the superior car between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Both chiefs pointed stern words in each other’s direction after a tense weekend of racing in Saudi Arabia. 

F1 neutrals were given the perfect scenario after the chequered flag in Jeddah, with Hamilton and Verstappen heading into the final race level on points. 

It was far from a simple assignment for the Brit though, with Verstappen fighting tooth and nail to maintain his championship advantage ahead of a showdown in Abu Dhabi. 

That led to two collisions between the title challengers, and the Dutchman was slapped with separate penalties for his role in various controversies throughout the race. 

In light of Hamilton’s resurgence in recent weeks, Horner has maintained that the Mercedes man benefitts from driving a quicker car than Verstappen. 

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Wolff seemingly agreed heading into last weekend, until one moment completely changed his mind. 

“We came here with the mindset that we have the strongest car,” the German told the Planet F1 podcast.

“But we found out, on a single lap, that we didn’t.”

Of course, the lap in question was during Saturday qualifying in which Verstappen was one corner away from blitzing the competition to take pole. 

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However, a lock-up going into the final turn caused the 24-year-old to run wide and clip the wall, ending all hopes of starting ahead of Hamilton. 

Despite the late mishap, Horner later described Verstappen’s attempt as, “the best lap we’ve ever had in one of our cars”.

Even so, the two team bosses stand opposed to one another, each insisting that the rival driver benefits from the more complete machine. 

Although their respective performances have yo-yoed through different spells this season, there is certainly not a huge gulf in pace which promises to make the Abu Dhabi shootout an absolute showstopper. 

After controversy tarnished some of the mouth-watering wheel-to-wheel racing which was on display in Saudi Arabia, Wolff has understandably called for a clean contest to see out the year. 

“The race was so messy, so confusing,” he added.

“Overstepping the red line and making it hard to overtake, or risking a crash is bad enough. We need to avoid that for Abu Dhabi.

“We need to put the brake on and say that we cannot race like this.”

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