Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he’s pleased to see more “borderline dirty” driving in F1 – as long as it’s not between his drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

While FIA race director Michael Masi has insisted the stewards did not Silverstone stewards did not police the British Grand Prix more leniently than previous rounds , Wolff said he was pleased by the robust racing between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen last weekend.

“You can clearly see that the Leclerc-Verstappen incident of Austria being interpreted exactly in the way it was in Austria,” said Wolff.

“Hard racing is permitted. You can push somebody out whilst exiting a corner. I think this is how it is allowed in most of the other formulas.

“It needs to be between teams: team against team. This is what we all and the fans want to see but it is hard racing. It is something we need, I think.”

However Wolff was pleased Hamilton and Bottas showed more restraint during their fight for the lead at the start of the race.

“This is exactly why we have debated in the morning,” said Wolff. “I don’t want to see anything of this in an intra-team battle.

“I have no doubt that these guys know how to race each other. We’ve seen that now on many occasions between Valtteri and Lewis. They respect each other off-track and they respect each other on-track. And to take it another step is fair enough if you’re racing another team.

“But I really I thought it was very good racing between the two of them. Certainly very entertaining, nobody could say that there wasn’t hard defending, but it wasn’t dirty. And I think what you’ve seen between some of the other drivers is is borderline dirty.”

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2019 F1 season