26/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Let's face it, although outraged at Sunday's events, feeling that Sebastian Vettel should have been disqualified perhaps even faced a race ban or three, deep down we're glad it happened.
While the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was already shaping up to be a classic, that particular little incident meant the gloves were finally off, and that the mutual back-slapping and respect-fest love-in between the two protagonists was finally over.
And while you, dear reader, might not be willing to admit as much, Toto Wolff is clearly delighted.
"They are warriors!" he told the official F1 website. "In the race you are at war! You don't want to miss out on anything.
"Yes, during the race they are 'enemies'," he continues, "and it can get very emotional if you think that somebody is doing something to you. So yes, the heat will go up, but after the race we should all be able to have a beer together, like in many other sports.
"I think there is no damage to the respect," he said of the pair. "I hope not, but this sport needs rivalry, and what we have seen today has the ingredients of a great championship.
"Those who fight for the title in the end cannot be friends, that's for sure, so what can remain is respect. Maybe we've seen the limitations of that respect."
With Lewis Hamilton describing Vettel a "disgrace", it would appear that as far as the Briton is concerned, the respect might have taken a bit of a bashing.
"Did he really say that?" replies Wolff. "Well, the emotions go high in a race car. You have your visor down and have your own perception of what is reality.
"The only explanation that I have to this wording is that Sebastian thought that Lewis was brake-testing him, which was not the case as we have seen in the data. So it was probably a wrong judgement from Sebastian's side. What happened after that I find it hard even to think that he bumped into Lewis on purpose! I'd like to speak to him personally rather than making a pre-judgement only on hearsay!
"We are eight races into the season and the two guys respect each other a lot, and now we have a situation where there is more controversy and it was always clear that this could happen at any race. I still believe that today's incident will not change the respect level, but with every race the heat level will rise between the two greats of their sport. Maybe the schmoozing times are over!"
Of course, this comes off the back of three long-seasons of intense in-team fighting.
"Look, Lewis and Sebastian share seven title wins among them, so they know the business," says Wolff. "Probably in a couple of hours Sebastian will know that his action didn't look great. For me the matter is already history, but of course the heat level is going up! We are fighting for the crown in motorsport, this is not a bumper car event."
Asked if the loose headrest which cost Hamilton the win was down to the clash with Vettel, Wolff is emphatic: "Why the headrest came loose we have to analyse with our design department. Maybe it was not properly locked, but no it had nothing to do with the Sebastian incident. I also cannot say if there were similar issues with it before, at least I have not heard anything about it."
Finally, in all the mayhem, it was easy to overlook Valtteri Bottas' bravura performance.
"His race was amazing. His start, especially Turn 2 was unfortunate, he simply bounced off the curbs and fell far behind, and we knew that his only chance to get into the game again was a safety car.
"Coming from so far behind and finishing in P2 was a miracle of the sport," he adds, "equal to Daniel's performance starting from P10 and finishing first and Lance on the podium. It was one of those races where anything could happen... and it did. The unpredictability of the result was simply marvellous!"
Check out our Sunday gallery from Baku, here.