Mercedes boss Toto Wolff didn't hold back his criticism of his Ferrari counterpart Mattia Binotto, accusing the Swiss of peddling "another bullshit story" regarding the technical directives released last year by the FIA.
In Hungary, Binotto admitted that the TDs published by F1's governing body in the latter part of the 2019 season had impacted Ferrari's engine output but also the performance of its rivals' power unit.
But the Scuderia boss' words - which conveniently did not reference the confidential agreement reached by the FIA and Ferrari earlier this year over the latter's engine horseplay in 2019 - did not go down well with Wolff who took aim at Binotto's clumsy attempt to mask the truth.
"Another complete bullshit story, technical directives… There's a clear regulation on power units," said Wolff.
"There have been clarifications in Austin, what is allowed to do or not, which were important, but nothing that was in any way surprising because if you comply to the regulations that was anyway clear."
Wolff said Ferrari's explanations were rather "ironic" given that Ferrari's spectacular engine advances in 2019 had forced Mercedes to push its own development to "burnout" levels, the German manufacturer subsequently achieving significant gains contrary to Binotto's assumption.
"I think the irony of the story is that we were pushed by some of our competitors to absolutely new levels," Wolff said.
"It brought us to almost burnout last year, to develop and innovate in a way to be competitive on track.
"And here we go, I think we made a substantial jump in performance from 2019 to 2020. Because we needed to last year, and that is a little bit ironic for me."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Sebastian Montoya, the 19-year-old son of former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, is set…
When former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto took on the role of Chief Operating Officer…
Charles Leclerc concluded the 2024 F1 season with a sense of satisfaction, the Ferrari driver…
Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has voiced his dismay at FIA president Mohammed Ben…
Super Aguri's application to join Formula 1 became a reality on this day in 2005,…
Ferrari roared back into contention in 2024 to deliver their strongest season in years, thanks…