Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he will no longer get drawn into distracting verbal jousts with rival Red Bull, pledging to ignore "the noise" and focus on the job at hand in the second half of the 2021 season.
A discord set in between Mercedes and Red Bull in the first part of the season, with the bulls top brass locking horns with Wolff on the back of F's flexi-wing row.
With the threat of a protest hanging over Red Bull during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, team boss Christian Horner suggested that Wolff "keep his mouth shut" and that more scrutiny should be directed at the front wing of Mercedes car.
Wolff responded by calling his Red Bill counterpart a "windbag". The events that unfolded the following month at Silverstone only fanned the flames of the clash between the two teams.
But Wolff has since reined in his reproof, admitting to having learned a lesson in Baku.
"I got annoyed in Baku, and that is not something that’s normally happening to me," Wolff said.
"On reflection, I want to concentrate my focus on the team and on myself, rather than be distracted by noise."
Asked whether he had received any advice from Mercedes' hierarchy on dealing with the controversy or been ordered to tone it down, Wolff said: "I always listen, of course, and that is important because sometimes you just need to look beyond your nose. That is just me.
"Baku wasn't 'back away', I just got triggered. In the end, I am not interested anyway in chatter.
"Whatever is said or written, it is just distracting. It has the potential to distract you, and I don't want to be distracted. I just want to look, I just want to look inside."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
