Wolff plays down safety car conspiracy

Toto Wolff has played down a conspiracy theory triggered by comments made by Lewis Hamilton after the Belgian grand prix.

The Mercedes driver won at Spa, but only after a race characterised by intense pressure from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and controversial safety car periods.

"I felt it was like Nascar, with safety cars being pulled out for no reason," said Hamilton.

"They could have done a virtual safety car but I guess they wanted to see a race."

Hamilton argued that the safety car was deployed even though there was no debris visible on the track, but his boss Wolff gave FIA officials the benefit of the doubt.

"Maybe there really was debris on the track and it was not safe to continue the race," he said.

"The speed at Spa is very high and no one wants to see an accident because of pieces of carbon fibre on the track," the Mercedes chief added.

"I can understand Lewis’ reaction, because he was trying to keep the gap to Vettel. But I think if he takes into account all the circumstances, he actually would have nothing against the use of the safety car."