Toto Wolff has insisted the radio argument between him and Lewis Hamilton at the Austria Grand Prix won't have an impact on talks over a new deal for the British driver.
Upgrades to the Mercedes W14 cars had yielded improved results of late, with Hamilton arriving at the Red Bull Ring on the back of podium finishes in Spain and Canada. But the Silver Arrows seemingly took a step backwards this time around, with neither Hamilton or George Russell able to challenge at the front of the grid.
Hamilton was initially seventh, but then demoted a place after receiving a 10 second time penalty. Russell was classed a place ahead of him and to compound their misery, the domination of Red Bull continued with Max Verstappen winning for the seventh time in nine Grand Prix races in 2023, ahead of Charles Leclerc and teammate Sergio Perez.
The 39-year-old was clearly unimpressed with proceedings throughout, frequently complaining to team members over radio about how his car was running. He was also vociferous about rival drivers exceeding track limits, which proved ironic when his own five second sanction was later doubled by race stewards.
Eventually, Wolff clearly grew frustrated by the constant communication from the seven-time world champion, telling him: "Lewis the car is bad, we know, please drive it."
And later asked about what the comment implied, Hamilton himself seemed unimpressed by the response of his boss, telling reporters: "I don't know, you'll have to ask him."
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But the 51-year-old later played down any talk of a rift at his home race. Asked if the apparent disagreement would have any bearing on Hamilton's ongoing contract discussions, with the seven-time world champion in the last six months of his current deal.
"You should hear us talking on the phone and meeting each other, that was nothing," insisted Wolff, before being asked if the incident would impact negotiations: "No not at all, we've had a bad spell of a weekend all of us in the team and that just makes us stronger."
Hamilton will now crave a strong showing this weekend for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He has now not taken the chequered flat since December 2021 in Saudi Arabia, his longest ever run without a race victory.
