Team boss Horner said it was “inevitable” that Brown and his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff would stir things up through the media.

“I think it is inevitable. The two candidates involved, they talk a lot,” Horner said.

“But I am not going to get sucked into a tit-for-tat. I would be more focused on Toto’s own issues that he has.”

Man in glass house bloody loves throwing stones