Breaking news
Formula 1 Austrian GP
Mercedes: Bottas radio message nothing to do with 'Multi 21'
Mercedes has rubbished any talk that it used 'Multi 21' tactics of cryptic team orders in the Austrian Grand Prix to call off the battle between its drivers.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Jul 6, 2020, 1:47 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were leading the season opener, but both were facing critical gearbox issues that Mercedes feared could cause them to retire from the race.
As well as both drivers being warned to keep off the kerbs, there was a great deal of intrigue when Bottas was given the radio message: "Urgent Chassis Default Two One."
That message prompted memories of the Multi 21 radio call that Red Bull famously handed out to Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix that was ignored and prompted huge controversy.
Asked after the race about if team orders were used, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: "Don't get paranoid! This is nothing to do with Multi 21.
"We have never played that, unless there was a problem on the car, and we would never interfere in a fight in the first few races of a season. They were completely free to race each other.
"What we did, that we always do on both cars, we gave them the same recommendations to stay off the kerbs. And because there was no competitor basically at a certain stage, we switched the engines to a lower mode to protect the power unit.
"There was no, zero team orders. No hidden, no subtle, and no direct."
Read Also:
- Hamilton reveals foiled strategy plan to beat Bottas
- Hamilton penalty for Albon clash "too harsh", says Wolff
- Austrian GP: Bottas wins from Leclerc after Hamilton penalty
The only time Mercedes did consider perhaps interfering with the positions was in the closing stages when Hamilton had a five-second penalty for his collision with Alex Albon.
The pit wall discussed the idea of telling Bottas to let Hamilton through so the British driver could extend a gap to protect second place, but in the end it was felt too complicated a situation to manage.
Wolff added: "Maybe with all the information afterwards we would have gotten P3. There was a discussion, but that starts to get really messy.
"We've had it in Budapest many years ago, and we nearly got overtaken by [Max] Verstappen. The thinking that I had was that you need to explain to Valtteri what is going on, that there is a five-second penalty, and then ask Lewis in the last lap to let Valtteri pass again.
"So if Valtteri can't keep up, he can't let him past, and if [Charles] Leclerc and [Lando] Norris on fresh tyres are on his gearbox, then obviously Valtteri rather than winning the race ends up fourth. Too much complexity to do such a switch. Too much risk."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ferrari losing 0.7 seconds per lap on straights
Next article Mercedes confident of solutions for Austria gearbox issue
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli hails "step forward" at United States GP as Mercedes chips away at upgrades
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
9 h
Kimi Antonelli hails "step forward" at United States GP as Mercedes chips away at upgrades
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
21 h
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Latest news
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
17 min
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Lamborghini World Finals | PRO-PRO/AM Qualifying: Pole position for Lind, Bamber, Van der Drift and Marcelli
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
1 h
Lamborghini World Finals | PRO-PRO/AM Qualifying: Pole position for Lind, Bamber, Van der Drift and Marcelli
Jorge Martin's endless ordeal since signing for Aprilia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Jorge Martin's endless ordeal since signing for Aprilia
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe