As Lewis and Max slug it out on track, back in the paddock team bosses Christian Horner and Toto Wolff continue to trade verbal blows.

It wasn't that long ago that Christian Horner never missed an opportunity to take a dig at engine partner Renault, even after switching to Honda the barbs continued.

Now however, with more than a little help from Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes is the target of the Red Bull boss's wit.

On Wednesday, Lewis Hamilton suggested that, title rival, Max Verstappen still feels he has something to prove, a comment clearly intended to get under the Dutchman's skin.

"I think perhaps he feels he has a lot to prove," said Hamilton of his title rival. "I'm not necessarily in the same boat... I'm more long-term. It's a marathon not a sprint sort of mentality, which is ultimately why I have the stats that I have."

Subsequently told of the world champion's comments, it was clear that they had had the desired effect.

"I have nothing to prove," snapped the Dutchman.

"Lewis loves all that rubbish," Horner told Sky Sports on Thursday, when asked about the world champion's comment, "so (we) will just let him get on with it.

"Max does his own thing, is his own man," he continued. "The fact that Lewis feels the need to do that means that actually, Max is probably getting under his skin a bit.

"It's great," he laughed, "it's part of the sport.

"We're only at the beginning of the championship, we're not even anywhere near halfway yet. Can you imagine what it is going to be like by the time, if they are that close, going into the last few races?"

Earlier, when asked why the W12 doesn't appear to have any updates this weekend, Toto Wolff claimed that attention has already switched to next season.

"We are obviously churning along and trying to bring tweaks to the car, and trying to understand the car and the tyres," the Austrian told Sky Sports. "But we are flat out in 2022.

"There will be tiny tweaks that will be coming," he added, "but I think it's more understanding the concept of this year's car, it's where we are looking for lap-time gain."

Again, Horner had the perfect riposte when told of Wolff's admission.

"I think Toto's more focused on our rear wing than he is on next year," he said.

"I don't know what's going on in their business but Toto knows what's going on in everyone's business," he continued.

"I would be surprised," he admitted, "because the rate of development is still quite intense so we'll see. We've only done four races."

However, it is not all one-way traffic, amidst the threats of legal action over the "bendy" wings saga, footage of the W12 at Imola suggests that the car's front wing is somewhat - how would you say... "bendy"?

"It's a competitive business," said Horner. "You've only got to look at the footage from Imola, when we're talking about flexibility, I think it's very unfair to point it at one direction at the rear of the car when you should also perhaps be looking at the front of the car.

"I think if the camera was facing the other way on our rivals' side they'd be having the same discussion with you, 100%."

"We would wish it would be stiffer," responded Wolff, "because that would give us more performance on the front end.

Anybody has an idea... we are open for it," he added, with ill-concealed relish.

Check out our Thursday gallery from Monaco, here.