Red Bull lodged two protests against George Russell following his win at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg and Toto Wolff in disagreement over who was behind it

Nico Rosberg and Toto Wolff have different opinions on the protest(Image: Getty)

Nico Rosberg has suggested that Max Verstappen could have been behind Red Bull’s protest against George Russell after the Brit’s Canadian Grand Prix victory. The former Mercedes star and 2016 world champion’s thoughts are not in line with his former boss, Toto Wolff, however.

Christian Horner’s appeal resulted from Russell dropping back behind the Safety Car, with Red Bull accusing him of unsportsmanlike behaviour in trying to catch Verstappen out for overtaking. However, their protests were ultimately rejected.

While Wolff, 53, believes the origins of the protest didn’t stem from the Red Bull star, Rosberg isn’t convinced. Rosberg mused that Verstappen, who is teetering on the brink of a race ban with 11 penalty points to his name, may have seen Russell’s manoeuvre as a deliberate ploy to bag him a one-race suspension.

He suggested that an irked Verstappen could have then urged his team to lodge the protest in retaliation. “The fact that Red Bull appealed, it wouldn’t surprise me if that was pushed by Max,” Rosberg said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.

“Because Max got angry that George hit the brakes and tried to get him into a penalty situation. So Max was like, ‘I’m not having that,’ and asked his team to appeal to try and get George into trouble. It wouldn’t surprise me, so we’re seeing the cat and mouse games continue, which is great.”

Russell’s actions were challenged by the Red Bull team(Image: Getty)

Wolff has a different take. “What is it all about? Who decides it? Because I’m 100 per cent sure it’s not Max, he’s a racer. He would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing,” Wolff said at the premiere of the new F1 movie this week.

The Mercedes boss also expressed frustration with the FIA and urged them to review their procedures. “First of all, it took team Red Bull Racing two hours before they launched the protest, so that was their doing. Honestly, it’s so petty and so small.

“They’ve done it in Miami. Now they lodged two protests. They took one back because it was ridiculous. They come up with some weird ISC clauses – sporting code clauses.

“I guess the FIA needs to look at that, because it’s so far-fetched it was rejected. You race, you win and you lose on track. That was a fair victory for us, like so many they had in the past. And it’s just embarrassing.”

Wolff was particularly annoyed by the time taken to dismiss the second protest, which came five and a half hours after the race ended. “One of them they actually pulled as a protest, they didn’t even follow it through because it was nonsense,” he added. “The second one took us five hours because I don’t even know what you refer to as ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ or something.”

Rosberg thinks Verstappen may have been angry and forced the protests(Image: Getty)

Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal Horner defended his decision to approach the stewards. “No, absolutely not [got any regrets],” Horner said to Sky Sports.

“I mean, it’s a team’s right to do so. You know, we saw something we didn’t think was quite right. You have the ability to put it in front of the stewards, and so that’s what we chose to do. Absolutely no regrets in that.”

Tensions between Red Bull and Mercedes had already been building this season. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen collided with Russell, earning him three penalty points that have him on the cusp of a ban.

For next week’s Austrian Grand Prix, the four-time world champion will need to tread carefully, as two of his 11 penalty points are set to expire by the end of the month, just before the British GP.