Max Verstappen theory sees Nico Rosberg and Toto Wolff in disagreement

Red Bull lodged two protests against George Russell following his win at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg and Toto Wolff in disagreement over who was behind it
Nico Rosberg has suggested that Max Verstappen could have been behind Red Bull's protest against George Russell after the Brit's Canadian Grand Prix victory. The former Mercedes star and 2016 world champion's thoughts are not in line with his former boss, Toto Wolff, however.
Christian Horner's appeal resulted from Russell dropping back behind the Safety Car, with Red Bull accusing him of unsportsmanlike behaviour in trying to catch Verstappen out for overtaking. However, their protests were ultimately rejected.
‌
While Wolff, 53, believes the origins of the protest didn't stem from the Red Bull star, Rosberg isn't convinced. Rosberg mused that Verstappen, who is teetering on the brink of a race ban with 11 penalty points to his name, may have seen Russell's manoeuvre as a deliberate ploy to bag him a one-race suspension.
‌
He suggested that an irked Verstappen could have then urged his team to lodge the protest in retaliation. "The fact that Red Bull appealed, it wouldn't surprise me if that was pushed by Max," Rosberg said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.
"Because Max got angry that George hit the brakes and tried to get him into a penalty situation. So Max was like, 'I'm not having that,' and asked his team to appeal to try and get George into trouble. It wouldn't surprise me, so we're seeing the cat and mouse games continue, which is great."
Wolff has a different take. "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," Wolff said at the premiere of the new F1 movie this week.
The Mercedes boss also expressed frustration with the FIA and urged them to review their procedures. "First of all, it took team Red Bull Racing two hours before they launched the protest, so that was their doing. Honestly, it's so petty and so small.
"They've done it in Miami. Now they lodged two protests. They took one back because it was ridiculous. They come up with some weird ISC clauses - sporting code clauses.
‌
"I guess the FIA needs to look at that, because it's so far-fetched it was rejected. 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."
Wolff was particularly annoyed by the time taken to dismiss the second protest, which came five and a half hours after the race ended. "One of them they actually pulled as a protest, they didn't even follow it through because it was nonsense," he added. "The second one took us five hours because I don't even know what you refer to as 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' or something."
‌
Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal Horner defended his decision to approach the stewards. "No, absolutely not [got any regrets]," Horner said to Sky Sports.
"I mean, it's a team's right to do so. You know, 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."
Tensions between Red Bull and Mercedes had already been building this season. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen collided with Russell, earning him three penalty points that have him on the cusp of a ban.
For next week's Austrian Grand Prix, the four-time world champion will need to tread carefully, as two of his 11 penalty points are set to expire by the end of the month, just before the British GP.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mirror

2 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

Tyson Fury branded 'biggest cheater in boxer' in scathing attack

An ex-rival of the former two-time heavyweight champion was quick to slam the Brit ahead of his return to the boxing ring next week Tyson Fury 's biggest rival Deontay Wilder has again accused the 'Gypsy King' of being a cheat in a scathing rant. The pair put on one of the most iconic trilogy fights in the history of the sport between 2018 and 2021. Wilder stunned the boxing world back in 2018, sending Fury crashing to the canvas in the final round of their first encounter - but the pair would go on to fight to a split draw in Los Angeles. ‌ Two years later, the pair were back in the ring. This time around, the judges were not needed as Fury went on to knock Wilder out in the seventh round before capping off the trilogy with another knockout victory over the 'Bronze Bomber' a year later. Wilder has always been very critical of the 'Gypsy King' and has thrown several 'cheating' accusations following the two defeats. ‌ However, there is no evidence to suggest any wrongdoing. Wilder once fired his then cornerman Mark Breland for pulling him out of the sequel too early and sensationally blamed his ring walk outfit for draining his energy just moments before touching gloves with the Brit. After their rematch, the American also claimed Fury illegally tampered with his own gloves. In a recent interview with Inside Boxing Live, when asked about his most disliked fighter that he has faced, Wilder replied: 'I mean, Fury is a cheater. He's the biggest cheater in boxing. I know what he is, they know what they are. Of course, he's the biggest [cheater] in boxing.' Fury has consistently denied any wrongdoing throughout their three fights. Taking to Instagram immediately after the rematch, the Brit said: "I've just read an article before saying that I might've had some blunt objects in my gloves? Yeah, two big 19 stone 7 - 275lbs destroyers in each glove. So yeah, getting punched up the temple may do that to you. "Not unless Deontay Wilder's own trainer Jay Deas was in on the conspiracy as well, along with all the Las Vegas State Commission guys who never left the room Jay Deas was in the room when I had my hands wrapped, he examined them. He was in there when I had my gloves put on, examined them. Yeah and everybody else was in the room, they don't leave you. We all know this." WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman later backed Fury after describing the allegations as "ridiculous". "It's ridiculous," Sulaiman told Sky Sports. "It's difficult to understand. I was present in both fights, I was in the dressing room, in both fights. Both Wilder and Fury dressing room. ‌ "One was in California, the other one was in Nevada. In both cases there were at least three inspectors, in each dressing room. I was there before and after the fight. I saw the hand wraps, I saw them with the gloves. I was in the ring when they came into the ring, and I was sitting right there during the fight. "At no moment, in either fight, I saw anything that would look suspicious whatsoever. After the fight, they take off the gloves, they are handed to the commission. It's very sad, because to try and take away something from a huge victory, one of the greatest nights of the sport in the century, to try and put a blemish on that event, is so irresponsible, and so stupid. It should not be given any consideration." Despite the stunning accusations, Wilder is preparing for his return to the ring next week. The 39-year-old will take on heavyweight journeyman Tyrrell Anthony Herndon at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita. Wilder has not fought since suffering a devastating knockout to Zhilei Zhang last June.

The Guardian

3 hours ago

• The Guardian

Brad Pitt in the paddock: how F1 the Movie went deep to keep fans coming

After the British Grand Prix last year the drivers took their places in the media zone to conduct interviews, with Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso among them. Yet it was all but impossible not to cast a glance sideways as Brad Pitt nonchalantly strolled out to face the microphones and cameras of his own, entirely staged, media scrum. None of us in the media pack openly goggled at the fact that Hollywood's A-list had joined the sweaty throng, because Pitt was there filming what would become F1 the Movie. And we, as with everyone else, were under strict instructions to behave normally. Indeed, as farcical as it might sound, by this point we had become almost inured to the presence of the stars and their crew after several years of being part and parcel of the F1 circus. Almost but not quite. I mean, it was Brad Pitt … The resulting film, released next Wednesday by Apple Studios, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski, stars Pitt as the veteran driver Sonny Hayes, who makes a comeback to the sport after a 30-year absence to rescue the ailing and also fictional APX team. The film, which has had largely positive reviews so far – including from the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw – came about through an unusually proactive collaboration between the filmmakers and the sport. F1 bent over backwards to ensure it went well. The production filmed at circuits on real race weekends for over two years. The APX team enjoyed their own pit garage, their own hospitality and their own uniforms. With Pitt being filmed alongside real drivers and indeed the media around the grid and the 'paddock' (the working area of an F1 team), the filmmakers were effectively embedded within the sport as its 11th team – perhaps as deeply as it is possible for an entity to go without actually being a real team. They have also used real cars, albeit less-powerful Formula 2 models modified to look as close as possible to F1 cars by the Mercedes F1 team. Pitt and his co-star Damson Idris have filmed in cars, with Pitt doing all his own driving. He's been praised by Hamilton for picking up the skills quickly. Hamilton is both one of the producers and a special adviser to ensure the picture is as authentic as possible. For the producers, the collaboration is relatively straightforward. They wanted to make as authoritative, exciting and immersive a film as possible. And for the sport the movie is a key part of its global strategy. For many years F1 enjoyed a strong but undoubtedly niche-based support, largely centred on Europe and with a notably ageing, white-male demographic. But since Liberty Media took over the sport in 2017 from its former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who had been in charge for nearly 40 years, it has undergone a rapid and dramatic transformation. Liberty has expanded its reach, notably using social media and promotion to actively target a younger, more diverse audience. The enormously successful Netflix series Drive to Survive followed, its dramatic and sharply edited retelling of each season proving a huge hit with a market previously indifferent to F1. Drive to Survive is now in its seventh season since 2019. Suddenly the sport had an entirely new, enthusiastic fanbase; younger, excited and building momentum across the world – notably in the market every non US-based sport craves, North America. F1 has moved from one moderately well-attended race in Texas to three sellouts a year, now also including Miami and a night-race promoted by F1 itself on the streets of Las Vegas. Tyler Epp, the Miami GP president, noted that their audience is 'growing most aggressively in the 20- and 30-year-old buyer. Our data does not tell us that this is an audience of 30- to 60-year-old white men'. Instead, Epp says, there is a 60-40 male-female split – an 'eclectic, diverse group'. Recently, both golf and tennis have tried, with a lesser degree of success, to emulate the enormous surge of interest F1 has enjoyed. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion F1's willingness to accommodate Hollywood is shaped by this prism, the film a chance to sell the sport to a potentially huge audience who just might be converted. Sylvester Stallone tried to make an F1 film in the late 1990s but, given a lack of cooperation from Ecclestone, ultimately switched the story to the US-based CART series and the commercial and critical flop Driven was the result. Stefano Domenicali, a former team principal at Ferrari and president of the Italian car manufacturer Lamborghini, is the chief executive of F1, an accomplished operator with an easy-going persona. He is relaxed with F1 teams and Hollywood moguls and has been at the heart of the resurgence. 'I think that if Netflix was big, that the movie will be massive,' he said this year. 'We're going to hit a target that is not yet present.' Purists will sniff at some of the picture's deviations from certain aspects of F1's realities, and its concessions to dramatic and narrative convention to propel it as entertainment. But it was meant to be a blockbuster not a documentary and that's what matters to F1 and the producers. After the film's screenings in the US, Apple's senior vice-president, Eddy Cue, said that 'very few' of those attending had previously seen an F1 race but their reactions were instructive. 'When we finish and we ask how many of you would like to go see a race now, literally every single hand goes up,' he said. 'We think there's a huge, huge opportunity to grow the sport all over the world with this movie and I think it will do that.'

The Independent

4 hours ago

• The Independent

Williams F1 boss sets bold target amid resurgence

James Vowles, the team principal for Williams, has signed a new long-term contract with the racing outfit. Vowles joined Williams at the start of the 2023 season and has overseen a period of promising development for the Grove-based team. Under his leadership, Williams signed Ferrari race winner Carlos Sainz and currently holds fifth place in the 2025 constructors' standings. Vowles' strategic vision is firmly set on the new regulations for 2026 and beyond, aiming for future success. Both Vowles and Williams Racing chairman Matthew Savage expressed their commitment to restoring the team to championship-winning status.