Red Bull has hit back at Mercedes, amid a dispute over hotel accommodation for the forthcoming Austrian grand prix.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, team boss Toto Wolff claimed Mercedes staff have been “kicked out” of their hotel bookings just days before travelling to the Styrian region.<\/p>\n
“Those who work the most and the hardest on the cars will now have to commute 70 kilometres each day,” he said.<\/p>\n
It turns out that not only does Red Bull own the Austrian GP venue, the energy drink company’s mogul Dietrich Mateschitz is also the new owner of the Schloss Gabelhofen, a castle that now operates as a hotel near the Red Bull-Ring.<\/p>\n
But Red Bull’s F1 director Dr Helmut Marko denies the claim that Red Bull “kicked out” its arch rival Mercedes.<\/p>\n
“Mercedes itself made the cancellation,” he told APA news agency in Montreal on Sunday.<\/p>\n
He is also quoted by the German newspaper Bild: “Mercedes told us suddenly and with no reason.\u00a0 I have the correspondence to prove it.<\/p>\n
“We have kicked no one out of our hotel,” said Marko.<\/p>\n
Marko said the fuss about the hotel story was “unintelligible theatre” on Mercedes’ part.<\/p>\n
In fact, he said Red Bull has bent over backwards to help Mercedes, after it emerged that Lewis Hamilton’s plans to have his motor home in Austria fell through.<\/p>\n
“Despite great difficulties, we have given him a room at Steirerschloessl,” said Marko, referring to the best hotel near the Red Bull-Ring, “so that he can prepare in the best way possible.”<\/p>\n
Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda, however, hit back at Red Bull’s account.<\/p>\n
“A joke!\u00a0 We have not cancelled our rooms — why would we do that?\u00a0 Because Mateschitz bought the hotel?<\/p>\n
“We would have liked to have stayed there,” he insisted.<\/p>\n
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