Christian Horner accuses Mercedes of an orchestrated media campaign to paint Max Verstappen as F1's bad boy.

On a day Talksport ran an article entitled 'The chequered life of the man who created the most dangerous racer in F1', Christian Horner claimed that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have used the media to taint Max Verstappen in the eye of the public - and officials - and thereby apply additional pressure to the youngster.

"Lewis is a seven-time world champion," said Horner, "he's the most successful driver of all time, he has a standing obviously within the sport and what he says carries a lot of weight.

"I think he has used every tool available to him to put Max under pressure this year," he continued. "He's a competitive animal, you don't become a seven-time world champion by not being a competitor like he is.

"Yes, I believe, and backed up by the Mercedes media machine, a huge amount of pressure has been placed on Max," he insisted.

"What you've got to remember with Max is he's just a young lad," said the Briton. "He's a 24-year-old that drives with bravery, with passion, with skill, with determination. He's just a guy living his dream, doing his job, and he's up against not only Lewis but a huge machine in Mercedes-Benz.

"I think all credit to him the way he's handled that pressure this year and hasn't been drawn into it, hasn't been sucked into it, he's just gone about his business and he hasn't changed from Bahrain to Saudi, his approach or how he goes racing."

Taking a lead out of Mercedes book, Wolff claims four-time champions Red Bull to be the underdog.

"If you think of the size of Mercedes globally they must be one of the biggest automotive companies in the world," he said. "The power that they wield with media around the world, I think we pale into insignificance in comparison. As Lewis Hamilton indeed called us, we're just an energy drinks company going racing.

"So no, I think that Mercedes, Mercedes Formula 1 team, have become a machine over the last seven or eight years during their period of dominance and obviously have the weight and power of the parent company behind them.

"I can't believe it's particularly comfortable being beaten by an energy drinks manufacturer as a major OEM. That's never sat comfortably, we know that, it's been made quite clear to us.

"We're a team of racers, we're going racing, we've got a phenomenal driver who has driven his heart out this year, and it's been intense on track and off track.

"I do think that the spotlight, even the narrative of this last week of this 'Mad Max' scenario, calling him crazy, there's been a very clear narrative."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by equator180, 12/12/2021 0:31

"Horner being honest! All required now is some rant and spiel from Hill on his (Honer's) content on the pre race show before he has to change his depends.........."

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2. Posted by kenji, 11/12/2021 10:06

"@jamesD...It all come down to which side of the fence you live. Horner, who is not one of my favourite people, is expressing his opinion and a lot of what he days is quite true in fact. That is not a whinge merely a statement of facts as he sees and interprets them."

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3. Posted by JamesD, 11/12/2021 8:54

"Whinger Spice, please give it a rest ..."

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4. Posted by kenji, 11/12/2021 7:43

"For any team to tackle a 'Mercedes like entity' which just by size, weight of talent and wealth is an exercise of almost sheer stupidity. Not so long ago Wolff/Hamilton frequently boasted of having approx 2000 people who beavered away to support the team and put two cars on the line each and every race. Is that big....in F1 terms? Take nothing away from their car performances which have been the result of excellence in engineering but how slim is the chance of them ever getting a decent thrashing.....marginal at best."

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Horner hits out at Mercedes "media machine"

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