Nico Muller has slammed Audi stablemate Jamie Green for what he felt was “over the border” defending during the second DTM race of the Zolder weekend on Sunday.
DTM veteran Green stopped two laps later than Muller and found himself ahead of the erstwhile championship leader on the road, the two going on to engage in a tight scrap for the final spot on the podium.
Notably, Green cut the final chicane on lap 15 after locking his rear tyres, prompting Muller to scream on the team radio, “Jamie cut the chicane, he has to let me go. Man, he’s a f***ing idiot, this guy.”
The two Audi driver made contact at least twice on the following tour, before Muller sealed the move going into Turn 1, and went on to finish second behind Rast after passing the WRT Audi of Ferdinand Habsburg.
The Swiss driver was particularly vocal of Green in the immediate aftermath of the race, telling broadcaster Sat 1: “Jamie, I have no idea what he’s doing. It seems like the best days are over. Sorry to say so, but he had his head somewhere else today, I would say. That was pretty frustrating.”
Muller stopped short of suggesting that Green blocked him on purpose to allow Rosberg teammate Rene Rast – who had emerged in the lead after the pitstops – to run away at the front, but said he expected more respect from a driver competing for the same manufacturer.
“I don’t think so to be honest,” Muller said when asked if Green was defending hard because he’s Rast’s teammate. “It might lead to this thought because he’s carrying the two same logos as Rene, but also one of them is same as mine.
“I was just disappointing with that fact – brand mates driving to the car off each other unnecessarily when someone is anyway not up to speed yet.
“It’s just something in situation we are in currently where one of us is fighting for the championship, it’s not needed. Half an hour after the incident you are probably a bit calmer and I wouldn’t use the same words anymore.
“At the moment I already had lost several seconds with car coming out of the pits on cold tyres and he was the one costing me even more and cutting the chicane to keep his place and all that stuff. He was over the border and after calming down a bit I will definitely have a quick chat with him about it.”
Abt team boss Thomas Biermer, who was visibly angry with Green’s actions at the pit wall during the race, said his team had always played it fair in the championship battle against Rast.
“It was okay until the front chicane, but then Jamie cut the chicane and it was clear that he had to give back the position,” he said. “For me there was no sense to fight against Nico. I’m still angry, really angry about it. Both lost a lot of time.
“Jamie at the end lost places against BMWs. for me it was I don’t know stupid move, maybe stupid move is the wrong word. It wasn’t correct to be honest.
“Until now we’ve played it fair the whole season. There were so many times we can play a little bit unfair in the past races against Rene, strategy things and directions like that. But we didn’t do it.”
Muller sits 19 points adrift of new championship leader Rast going into the final round of the season at Hockenheim next month.
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