Key Points

Red Bull had lodged a post-race protest alleging that Russell engaged in erratic driving and unsportsmanlike behaviour behind the Safety Car while ahead of Max Verstappen. This came after a similar protest in Miami earlier in the season—also dismissed—where Red Bull accused Russell of failing to slow under yellow flags.

Wolff didn’t hold back in his response, telling Sky Sports at the launch of the new F1 movie in New York: “First of all, it took team Red Bull Racing two hours before they launched the protest, so that was in their doing. You know, honestly, it's so petty and so small.”

“They've done it in Miami. Now they launched two protests. They took one back because it was ridiculous. They come up with some weird clauses, what they call clauses. I guess the FIA needs to look at that because it's so farfetched it was rejected.”

Wolff emphasised that the sport should be won or lost on the track, not in stewards’ rooms: “You race, you win and you lose on track. That was a fair victory for us, like so many they had in the past. And it's just embarrassing.”

The Mercedes boss added that the protest created unnecessary delays and confusion: “The second one took us five hours because I don't even know what you refer to as 'unsportsmanlike behaviour'. What is it all about? Who decides it? Because I'm 100 per cent sure it's not Max, he's a racer. He would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing.”

Despite the criticism, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner defended the decision: “No, absolutely not [no regrets]. I mean, it's a team's right to do so. We saw something we didn't think was quite right. You have the ability to put it in front of the stewards and so that's what we chose to do. Absolutely no regrets in that.”

Horner also accused Mercedes of gamesmanship, pointing to comments made by Russell before the race regarding Verstappen’s precarious penalty points situation.

“I think you could hear from George's press comments on Saturday, his objective was reasonably clear. I don't think there were any surprises with that.”

“We just said to [the race director] could they please keep an eye on it because, there's been, obviously, comments that have been raised in the media, just please keep an eye on it.”

George Russell, who secured Mercedes’ first win of the season and shared the podium with teammate Kimi Antonello and Verstappen, seemed bemused by the protest:

“I think even Max didn't know there was a protest even going on. So I don't know what was going on, what they were thinking. I'm glad nothing happened one way or another. It was just a bit of a waste of everybody's time.”

- IANS