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Buchignani: Trash talk, the German Grand Prix and a switch for Stroll?

Things are heating up on and off the track as Formula One hits the midway mark of the season.

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It appears the folks at Mercedes have backed away from their war of words with Ferrari as Formula One heads to Hockenheim for this weekend’s German Grand Prix.

Shame.

I mean, at a time when Formula One frequently comes under attack for veering toward the dull side, a bit of trash talk helps liven things up.

Things got plenty lively at the last stop, in Britain, where an on-track clash between the two titans spilled over into the paddocks and in front of the TV cameras, with the Mercedes side throwing all the verbal bombs.

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Perfectly understandable. The British GP was to have been a homecoming party for local hero Lewis Hamilton, having steered his Silver Arrow to victory at Silverstone in each of the last four years. Instead, soon after the go-lights blinked, things went sideways, literally.

Starting from the pole, Hamilton was swarmed by the two red cars off the starting line, lost the lead to Sebastian Vettel, then was sideswiped by Kimi Raikkonen and sent skidding off the track.

By the time Hamilton got his car pointing in the right direction again, he was 18th. He then mounted a master class in damage limitation, scything through the field to finish second behind Vettel and ahead of Raikkonen in third.

Afterward, Raikkonen accepted blame for the early collision, for which he received a 10-second penalty. But that did nothing to appease Hamilton, who during the post-race interviews described the incident as “interesting tactics.”

Now, if Hamilton was trying to be cryptic in his choice of words, he failed badly. There is only one way to interpret what he said: Raikkonen crashed into him on purpose.

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There is no more serious accusation a driver can levy against a rival. Then again, Hamilton can be forgiven for misspeaking in the heat of the moment given the magnitude of his disappointment in front of his home crowd. Let’s give him that.

More difficult to accept, perhaps, is the reaction by his boss, team principal Toto Wolff, who suggested Raikkonen’s action was either “deliberate or incompetence.”

It was neither. Raikkonen locked a wheel while racing at high speed and close quarters. Most accidents in F1 are just that — accidents. Or “racing incidents,” if you prefer. Wolff has been around race tracks long enough to know that.

To his credit, he later took back his comment, saying his frustration had got the better of him, especially because it was not the first time a Ferrari took out a Mercedes this season. In France, Vettel was penalized after crashing into Valtteri Bottas.

“I said you need to question whether it was incompetence or deliberate,” Wolff was quoted as saying in reference to Raikkonen. “A stupid comment of mine in the emotion.”

Likewise, Hamilton took to Instagram to say: “Kimi said sorry and I accept it and we move on. It was a racing incident and nothing more. Sometimes we say dumb s— and we learn from it.”

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So a truce. Which isn’t to say Mercedes won’t be seeking revenge this weekend. Hamilton arrives in Hockeneim trailing Vettel by eight points in the drivers’ championship, while Mercedes is 20 points behind Ferrari in the constructors’ standings at the midway mark of the season.

As it happens, Germany is Vettel’s home race, as well as home of Mercedes. So chances are one will be spoiling the other’s party.

Lance Stroll steers his Williams during Friday practice at Hockenheim. Rumours have the Montreal native moving to Force India next season.
Lance Stroll steers his Williams during Friday practice at Hockenheim. Rumours have the Montreal native moving to Force India next season. Photo by Charles Coates /Getty Images

Meanwhile, Williams — home to Montreal native Lance Stroll — will try to avoid more embarrassment after hitting a new low in Britain, where the team introduced a new rear wing with “catastrophic” results, in the words of technical chief Paddy Lowe.

No kidding. The modification made the cars virtually undriveable, not to mention unsafe, sending both Stroll and teammate Sergey Sirotkin into high-speed spins during qualifying.

Next day, both drivers were forced to suffer the indignity of starting the race from the pit lane with the old-spec wings. Stroll finished 12th and Sirotkin 14th, last of the runners, as Williams continues to languish at the bottom of the team standings.

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You have to wonder how much more Stroll can take of this. Reports out of Germany are linking him to a possible switch to Force India next season. In response, Stroll is suggesting he’d like to stay put if Williams can turn things around, though “I also want to do what’s best for me as a driver.”

Predictably, his biggest critic — Jacques Villeneuve — could not resist slamming the one-time powerhouse that carried him to the 1997 F1 drivers’ championship, telling Autosport “the team is dead.”

Villeneuve said it was a “big mistake” to appoint Claire Williams — daughter of founder Frank Williams — as team principal, and there’s no hope of a turnaround “if you have two drivers without experience.”

You know, the usual trash talk.

AT A GLANCE:Live coverage of qualifying for the German Grand Prix airs Saturday at 8:55 a.m. on TSN 1, 3, 5 and 8:45 a.m. on RDS 1. Race coverage airs Sunday at 9:05 a.m. on TSN 1, 3, 5 and at 8:50 a.m. on RDS 1. Check listings for extended coverage.

walterb@postmedia.com

twitter.com/walterbF1

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