F1 rival team boss Horner a ‘windbag who wants to be on camera’ - Wolff

With a row over the use of flexible rear wings heating up at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Red Bull team principal said he would “keep my mouth shut” if he was Wolff having suggested that Mercedes is also using flexible aerodynamics on its car’s front wing.

“If you are picking on one end of the car, you need to look at the other,” Horner added. “You can’t look at one part in isolation and say ‘that set of rules only applies to that element on that car’, you have to look at all areas.

“So sometimes you have to be a little bit careful what you wish for.”

But ahead of qualifying on Saturday, Wolff hit back at Horner’s comments, telling Sky Sports F1: “Christian is a bit of a windbag, who wants to be on camera.

“It’s easy to be punchy when you’re at the top of the timesheet. But he should be a little modest, I think.”

Mercedes and McLaren are unhappy with the timing of a technical directive from the FIA that will see more stringent load tests on the wings only being introduced for the next race in France later this month.

There are mounting suggestions that Mercedes could lodge a protest in Baku this weekend if Red Bull continues to use the controversial wing configuration.

“I think the topic remains open,” Wolff continued.

“The last one [protest] taken out on the front wing flex was Red Bull, 2014, so he has a bit of a track record there but anyway, you just have to get on with things.”