Wolff admitted that Mercedes broke the rules

Team boss Toto Wolff admitted that his team at the Silverstone race tried to outwit their rivals at Williams with a playful stop in the pits, which is against the rules.

In the 14th round of the UK Grand Prix, Mercedes mechanics put themselves in place to change tires, but Wolff said it was just a tactic to scare the Williams team. “It was a tactical move that we failed at,” he admitted. "We know that Williams race cars wear their tires faster, so we thought they would get stuck and respond with their stop, which would dig them into trouble."

They didn't get stuck at Williams's, and Wolff's wife Susie, a Williams developmental racer, sent a mocking message to her husband after a playful stop: "You think you can trick us, ha ha ha."

Although it was a seemingly harmless, albeit somewhat unsportsmanlike move that we have seen quite often in the past, it is clear that such conduct since the severe accident at the 2013 German Grand Prix has been banned by the rules. At that time, after Mark Webber's stop while riding through the pits, a bicycle flew off the car, injuring the cameraman, and the FIA ​​tightened the rules on presence in the pits. Article 23 of the Formula One Sports Rules then states in indent 11 that: “team staff may only be present in the pit lane just before they have to work on the race car and then immediately retreat back to the garage…”