Toto Wolff calls for 'de-escalation' after Mercedes F1, Red Bull's heated clash in Britain

Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff has revealed the reasons behind his team issuing a strong response against Red Bull Racing's request for a review of Lewis Hamilton's British Grand Prix penalty. The seven-time Drivers' Champion was given a 10-second stop and go penalty for causing a collision. However, the penalty was deemed insufficient by Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner, who also accused Hamilton of "dirty driving" and also called him an "amateur."

Such harsh words were not taken well by Wolff who believed it was vital for his side to give a strong-worded response to protect the reputation of Lewis Hamilton. However, he also called for both sides to de-escalate.

Max Verstappen sent to hospital following British GP crash

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's controversial crash at the British GP sent the Dutchman to the hospital for precautionary checks, while the Brit was given a 10-second stop and go penalty before he grabbed the victory. The current championship leader termed Hamilton's celebrations as "disrespectful." Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner accused the seven-time Drivers' Champion of "amateurish driving" and requested the stewards to review the penalty what he deemed as "lenient." However, the exact reason behind the review has not been revealed yet.

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff hesitant to add fuel to the fire

On Friday in Hungary, Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff was asked to clarify the "certain allegations" made by Red Bull Racing when they requested the stewards to review Lewis Hamilton's penalty. In response, Wolff said, "I can’t, because I don’t want to ignite even more the fire, and the controversy. I think what we need to do as a sports team is to de-escalate and not create more polarisation on social media." However, Mercedes F1 did respond to the stewards' decisions on Thursday evening with a strongly-worded statement.

When asked why Mercedes released that statement, Wolff elaborated to Sky Sports F1, "Words like ‘amateurish’ should have no place, and what it triggered was an avalanche of comments in social media, a lot of controversy and added to further polarisation and I think we as a sport, we should do the contrary. We should de-escalate…" Mercedes F1 came up with such a statement because they wanted to protect the 'good' reputation of Lewis Hamilton who was facing severe criticism on social media.