Mercedes leaves the door open again for Verstappen with rectification

Even before the race weekend broke loose in Bahrain, McLaren CEO Zak Brown already poured some oil on the fire during a press conference by stating in the presence of Red Bull's Christian Horner and Mercedes' Toto Wolff that Max Verstappen and George Russell would form the driver duo for Mercedes in 2022.

At the time Wolff distanced himself from the discussion this generated between Horner and Brown. Whereas the Red Bull Racing team boss thought it was far too early to speculate on the lineup of drivers in 2022 before the first race of the season, Wolff said, "I don't want to get involved in the discussion these two gentlemen are having, about who will drive at Mercedes next year."

After the press conference, the Mercedes team boss added to this by stating that Brown and Horner's characters are quite alike: "Brown is like Christian Horner. They just spread nonsense." Chris Medland, however, is in fact on behalf of Racer.com convinced that it didn't quite work out that way.

He argues that Wolff was not quoted correctly by the news media at the time. According to a Mercedes spokesperson, Wolff would have said that Brown and Horner 'gave each other shit' rather than accusing his colleagues of 'spreading shit.' Whether Mercedes is so eager to rectify this through a spokesman to keep Brown friendly now that McLaren uses Mercedes engines or whether this leaves the door ajar again for Verstappen remains to be seen.