Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says McLaren and Ferrari have made themselves "a laughingstock" for claiming to be ready to sign Formula 1's all-important new Concorde Agreement.
The future covenant that regulates the commercial relationship between the teams and rights holder Liberty Media will cover the 2021-2026 period.
The agreement has been in the works for many months, with F1 and the FIA tweaking the fine print according to ongoing discussions with the sport's competitors.
However, final negotiations were also retarded by the onslaught of the coronavirus.
Yet Ferrari's Mattia Binotto and McLaren's Zak Brown both stated last week in Hungary that they were ready to commit to the new document. But the public comments that drew a strong reaction from Wolff.
"I don't know why some of the other teams made those ridiculous commentaries that they are ready to sign and there seems to be competitors that are not," Wolff said last weekend.
"They make themselves a laughingstock with those comments in the public."
"Negotiations should be taking place behind closed doors without a running commentary from competitors.
"And in that respect we are talking to Liberty, we are keen in staying in F1 and there are some clauses that bother us a little bit, but nothing that can't be solved."
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