Steiner lashes out at Wolff: 'He just wanted to show who is in command here'

After the high-profile on-board radio in Portugal in which Toto Wolff sent a motivational message to Valtteri Bottas, the Mercedes team boss was heard on the radio again in Spain. This time he expressed his displeasure towards the race direction.

Blue flags for Mazepin

At the moment when Lewis Hamilton wanted to lap Nikita Mazepin in the leading position, Wolff informed race director Michael Masi that blue flags should be waved. "Michael, this guy is causing us to lose the position," he echoed over the on-board radio.

Guenther Steiner, Mazepin's team boss at Haas, did not hear of Wolff's announcement until later, but thinks his driver did nothing wrong. "I think Nikita did a good job," he is quoted by F1i.com. "Maybe Toto just wanted to show who's in command here and that everyone has to move when he comes along. He didn't make his people do that job. He wanted a bit of publicity I guess."

A question of learning

Mazepin himself was also oblivious to the situation. "I had to deal with those blue flags for the first time in my life," Mazepin explained. "I've never had a blue flag on a regular basis, so it's a matter of learning, just like driving a car. It took me about five, seven years to learn to drive properly and it's hopefully only going to take me a few more weekends to learn the blue flags."