‘We should get them in the ring’ - Hamilton and Verstappen on F1 team boss spat

Verstappen is four points clear of Hamilton in the world championship heading into today’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but their title fight has been overshadowed by an ongoing row over F1’s flexi-wings saga.

While suggestions of a potential protest have cooled over the course of the Baku weekend, Red Bull team principal told Sky Sports F1 after Friday practice that he would “keep my mouth shut” if he was Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, suggesting Mercedes’ front wing design could also come under fire.

Wolff responded after final practice on Saturday as he called Horner a “windbag who wants to be on camera”. 

Asked about the war of words between the Red Bull and Mercedes chiefs following qualifying, Hamilton joked: “We should get them in the ring.”

“Naturally [Christian and Toto are] the two top leaders of the teams, and they've both contributed hugely to the success of both teams and they're great, great leaders,” the seven-time world champion added.

“Of course they’re head-to-head, because [Max and I are] head-to-head in this tight battle. But we generally just like to do our talking on the track so we're just keeping our heads down.”

Verstappen, who said his Monaco Grand Prix victory last time out was a “good lesson” that “actions always speak louder than words”, also joked that he would be “all for a ring in F1 instead of penalties”.

“It's Formula 1,” Verstappen said. “There are lots of stakes involved, so everyone wants to win, everyone is a competitor, so I guess its just the natural thing and it's good for people to read, right? A bit of fire behind it.”