Horner: Wolff wrong to 'roast' Mercedes team in public

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes his Mercedes counter-part Toto Wolff is wrong to vent his frustrations with his team in public.

Mercedes suffered another difficult weekend in Azerbaijan, where a mistake from Lewis Hamilton likely deprived the Brackley squad and its driver of a solid points haul, while teammate Valtteri Bottas was nowhere to be seen in last Sunday's race.

Mercedes' underperformance followed a complicated Monaco Grand Prix weekend from which it salvaged just 7 points.

In Baku, Wolff went on record saying that his team's current plight is "unacceptable", acknowledging "underlying issues" that are undermining Mercedes' car.

Horner believes the Austrian would be better inspired to wash he team's dirty linen in private.

"A lot’s been made of Toto’s comments this weekend," Horner told reporters after Serio Perez's win in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

"He’s never afraid to roast his team publicly, which I disagree with, but that’s his prerogative."

There's been no love lost between the two team principals recently, an antagonism that ramped up after Wolff's threat to protest Red Bull over the flexible rear wing used on its RB16B.

Horner responded to the intimidation by pointing to the equally "bending" front wing on Mercedes' W12 which perhaps also deserved the FIA's scrutiny.

"I think if I was Toto, with the front wing he has got on his car I would keep my mouth shut," quipped Horner in Baku.

• Read also: Current underperformance by Mercedes 'not acceptable' - Wolff

Not to be outdone, Wolff reacted by calling Horner "a windbag who wants to be on camera".

But Red Bull had the last laugh in Baku, thanks to Perez's win which the team celebrated with a brash tweet on Sunday evening: "That's the Azerbaijan GP in the windbag"!

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