10/08/2020
NEWS STORY
Luckily, Max Verstappen and friends managed to serve up an interesting race on Sunday, otherwise the much-lauded 70th Anniversary Grand Prix threatened to be overshadowed by the ongoing row over Racing Point.
Even as sections of the media keenly anticipated how many drivers would take the knee, Lawrence Stroll was taking centre stage, hitting out at those teams dragging the (soon to be changed) name of his team "through the mud".
On a day the Silverstone-based outfit clawed back 14 of the 15 points deducted by the FIA just a few days earlier, as many continue to speculate Mercedes involvement in the affair, Toto Wolff was sending out mixed messages, on the one hand throwing down the gauntlet to those teams looking to appeal last week's ruling whilst at the same time seemingly offering the hand of friendship as he seeks to mediate the escalating row.
"If someone thinks we have done something wrong, they should protest," he told reporters. "We are happy to go to court.
"We have not been protested," he continued. "We have done nothing wrong, and I strongly believe Racing Point have done nothing wrong.
"I believe if it goes to the International Court of Appeal, the lawyers have a strong opinion that this is a case that has very solid pillars and therefore everybody's in a good place about that.
"Our reputation is important but it is intact," he insisted.
However, with the clock ticking and the deadline fast approaching by which time, having notified their intent to appeal, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Renault, have to decide whether they will persist, Wolff argued that going to the International Court of Appeal wasn't in anyone's interest.
"I don't think that anybody is interested in this continuing forever and going to the International Court of Appeal," he told Sky Sports F1. "It will be a month or two until there is the case with lawyers involved, and therefore, everyone is trying to be pragmatic.
"I was invited to be the mediator between the two groups," he revealed, "which I tried to satisfy."
Without a hint of irony - considering his stance on the Concorde Agreement - asked if talks with the various teams seeking to appeal last week's ruling had been successful, he replied: "They're all so stubborn," adding, "but I think we made progress, a little bit.
"In the next 48 hours, we should come to a conclusion whether the appeals remain upheld or everybody decides it's not worth going that way. Racing Point was penalised anyway."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone, here.