Wolff brushes off latest Hamilton-Verstappen flashpoint

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has played down the significance of the latest exchange between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton claimed that he has faced tougher teammates throughout his F1 stint than Verstappen has during his career.

Dutchman Verstappen, who is well on his way to a third consecutive Drivers' title, has stretched his advantage to teammate Sergio Perez this term to 138 points having won 11 races from 13 and also faced little competition from Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly in recent years.

The comment from Hamilton sparked a reaction from Verstappen, who accused his former title rival of jealousy over his current run of success.

Taunts 'part of the fun'

Wolff, who was involved in a number of verbal exchanges with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, told media including RacingNews365.com: “First of all, it's obvious that the drivers like to poke each other a bit.

“But then you can say that Lewis has raced three World Champions. He raced Jenson [Button], he raced Fernando [Alonso] and he raced Nico [Rosberg].

“But I don't want to in any way diminish anybody's performance because Max in the car is outstanding. So yeah, it's just part of the fun.”