Berger furious: "Mercedes and Van der Linde have damaged DTM"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Former Formula 1 driver and DTM boss Gerhard Berger is outraged by the behaviour of Kelvin van der Linde and Mercedes in the championship final at the Norisring. He believes that they have damaged the racing class with their actions.
Red Bull Racing junior Liam Lawson seemed to be on his way to winning the title, but was tapped off the track by Van der Linde at the start. Maximilian Götz then ran away with the title after Mercedes issued team orders to two drivers. Both Lucas Auer and Philip Ellis were asked to slow down considerably in the last few laps of the race, allowing Götz to take the title with a three-point lead.
Berger apologizes on behalf of DTM
Van der Linde took a lot of heat on social media, something he devoted a lengthy post to on Twitter. DTM boss Gerhard Berger fears that his motorsport class has suffered great damage to its image. Not only because of the incident at the start but also because of Mercedes' actions in the final phase of the race.
"Both Mercedes' team orders and Van der Linde's action have damaged the DTM," Berger said in a conversation with Bild. "I am very sorry for everyone who has worked to make the DTM more attractive. They have ensured that the DTM stands for hard but fair racing where the best wins. Unfortunately, we failed to achieve that in the final."