F1 LIVE: RedBull boss Christian Horner insists FIA was ‘openly biased’ towards Mercedes

Max Verstappen is now 46 points ahead of his closest challenger, his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perezwho is three points higher than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after nine races.

The Dutch world champion already has six race wins to his name this season and a win at Silverstone would only cement his place as repeat champion in anticipation. But Verstappen has bad memories of Silverstone that linger in his head after a controversial collision with Lewis Hamilton last year he sent it into the barriers at high speed.

Christian Horner says the FIA ​​favored Mercedes with the new technical guideline to limit porpoises from the 2022 cars ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Teams were allowed to install a secondary floor in a bid to stop the bounce that has plagued many Formula 1 teams this season – but only Mercedes reacted quickly enough to the news to install the floor ahead of Friday’s practice sessions in Montreal.

As reported by The Race, he said: “What was especially disappointing was the second stay, because that has to be discussed in a technical forum, and that’s openly biased to solve the problems of one team, which was the only team that showed up here with it even before the technical directive.

“So, work that out.”

McLaren boss Zak Brown has tried to ease tensions in his team by insisting his relationship with Daniel Ricciardo has “never been better”.

Brown had previously questioned Ricciardo’s future, saying the Australian had not lived up to expectations since joining McLaren.

But Brown has said they remain in a positive frame of mind.

“We have a great relationship and had dinner in London a few weeks ago. We can have a good laugh together and enjoy racing together, so the relationship with Daniel has never been better.”

He added: “I was asked a question and I just gave an honest answer. I think Daniel said the same thing; we’re here to try to come forward. We had great weekends like Monza [where Ricciardo led home a McLaren one-two in 2021], and then some disappointing weekends. And to get back to our car, I don’t think we’ve given our drivers another car capable of being in the front on a regular basis, so we have to do that.

“We have a great relationship and I just gave an honest answer to a question about how things are going and how things could be better, but we’re going to work hard and make sure they [go better] in the future.”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto spoke about Charles Leclerc’s performance in the Canadian Grand Prix and how the decision to fines for changes to his power unit was made early in the week.

Leclerc started at the back of the grid in P19, but a battle race on Sunday saw him battle through the pack to claim a P5 finish to mitigate the damage from taking the new gear on board.

Binotto hopes the car’s new equipment will allow Leclerc to “attack” in the coming races and help Ferrari recover some of the 76-point deficit on Red Bull, which has bounced off the last six races. won.

“It was something we did very soon after Baku . decided [to take the power unit penalty]’ says Binotto. “So, it’s something he’s been aware of for days, to adapt and prepare for the race weekend, he knew he would start from the back of the grid today in the race.

“So even his schedule on Friday and Saturday focused on the high-fuel runs to make sure he was prepared for the race itself. It’s definitely a frustrating situation for a driver… The race would have taken a lot of patience, which is for sure was the case; you would certainly want to overtake but you can’t because there is a DRS train or because your tires are worn out.

“But in conclusion, limiting the damage, starting from behind and finishing fifth is still a good race result and I know he will definitely have new powertrains for the next races. We have four races until the summer break – that will be important for him where he can attack, and let’s try to recover some points somehow if we can.”

Valtteri Bottas has revealed that he almost retired from Formula 1 after two seasons besides racing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes after he lost his fun in the sport.

Bottas replaced Nico Rosberg at Mercedes after the 2016 season, but admitted he struggled to handle the pressure from Hamilton to face race wins.

Hamilton was the clear leading driver at Mercedes, winning the world championship in four of the five seasons in which he and Bottas were teammates.

And the Finnish driver, who left the team to join Alfa Romeo at the end of last season, said he was at his lowest point at the end of the 2018 season, when Hamilton won the title but Bottas finished fifth in the standings and win without a race.

Lewis Hamilton has won seven of the past eight British Grands Prix but the chances of him repeating the trick seem slim after such a difficult season, with Mercedes lagging far behind the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull.

“I think we can learn a lot this weekend and make improvements,” he said after Canada. “I really hope I move to Silverstone… It’s such an important race for us and for me, so I just want to get into a fight with this guy. I think we’re probably better in medium and high corners. speed than in low speed corners but we have bounce so I don’t know what it will be like through Copse and all those places.”

Max Verstappen is now 46 points ahead of his closest challenger, his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perezwho is three points higher than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after nine races.

The Dutch world champion already has six race wins to his name this season and a win at Silverstone would only cement his place as repeat champion in anticipation. But Verstappen has bad memories of Silverstone that linger in his head after a controversial collision with Lewis Hamilton last year he sent it into the barriers at high speed.