Mercedes has dismissed any comment that it used Multi 21 tactics of cryptic orders from the Formula 1 team at the Austrian Grand Prix to cancel the battle between its drivers.
Valtteri Bottas had led Lewis Hamilton’s opening of the F1 season 2020 when both faced critical gearbox problems that Mercedes feared might cause them to withdraw from the race.
In addition to both drivers being warned to stay away from the curb, there was great intrigue when Bottas received the radio message: “The default urgent chassis is two.”
That message sparked memories of the Multi 21 radio call Red Bull delivered to Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix that was ignored and sparked controversy.
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When asked after the race if the team’s orders were used, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “Don’t get paranoid! This has nothing to do with Multi 21.”
“We have never played that, unless there is a problem in the car, and we would never interfere in a fight in the first races of a season. They were completely free to compete with each other.”
“What we did, which we always do in both cars, we gave them the same recommendations to stay away from the sidewalk. And because there were basically no competitors at one stage, we switched the engines to a lower mode to protect the power unit .
“There were no, zero, team orders. Not hidden, not subtle, or direct.”
The only time Mercedes considered that perhaps interfering with the positions was in the final stages when Hamilton had a five-second penalty for his collision with Alex Albon.
The wall of the hole discussed the idea of telling Bottas to let Hamilton pass so that the British driver could extend a gap to protect second place, but in the end it felt too complicated a situation to handle.
Wolff added: “Maybe with all the subsequent information we would have gotten P3. There was an argument, but that starts to get really messy.”
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“We had it in Budapest many years ago, and they almost beat us [Max] Verstappen I thought I had to explain to Valtteri what is going on, that there is a five second penalty and then ask Lewis on the last lap to let Valtteri through again.
“So if Valtteri can’t keep up, he can’t let it go, and if [Charles] Leclerc and [Lando] Norris on new tires is in his gearbox, so obviously Valtteri, instead of winning the race, finishes fourth. Too much complexity to make such a change. Too much risk. “
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