Wolff desperate to avoid Horner 'trap'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has insisted he wishes to avoid falling into the same "trap" as his counterpart Christian Horner following another dominant Red Bull performance.

Max Verstappen led Sergio Perez home for a second one-two finish of the season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to give Red Bull a commanding early lead in both championships.

The result means Red Bull has won every race bar one since the São Paulo Grand Prix in 2022.

'Nobody else close'

Red Bull's dominance follows on from Mercedes' own purple patch before the 2022 regulation changes and speaking to media including RacingNews365, Wolff said: "I don't want to fall in the trap of my fellow team principal from next door in 2014 or '15... he said we should change the regs because it's too dominant.

"I think they've done by far the best job of all the teams over the last two years and credit where credit is due. I mean they are literally disappearing in the distance as they want, and there's nobody else close.

"They had Ferrari today, Leclerc a little bit and if Sainz would have been here, they would have been second best on the road. But there is not this huge performance differential between everybody that follows up and down.

"Depending on the track, it's just that they are in a different league."