Toto Wolff tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, which is refreshing in an age of political correctness, but at times - like after the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday - the Mercedes chief shot himself in the foot by labelling Valtteri Bottas as the team's ideal wingman.
Speaking immediately after Lewis Hamilton powered to a dominant victory at Hungaroring, Wolff said, "It feels a little bit bittersweet, I’m really happy for Lewis I just feel sad for Valtteri, he deserved P2 because he was such a sensational wingman – that would’ve been nice."
Needless to say, Bottas took offence when told of Wolff's remarks in the drivers' interview pen after the race and said he would confront the team about the comment.
However a couple of hours after the race, Bottas went on Twitter to diffuse the situation, "I have not called a meeting with the bosses for Toto saying I was the perfect wingman in this race."
"There is no need to. I was disappointed with my end-result in the race and saw everything in a negative way for a moment."
"I know what he meant. And he would have said the same about Lewis if he'd be in same situation and had a similar race. We are on equal terms and I trust the team 100% on that."
"All good. We'll keep pushing! It'll come," concluded Bottas who currently lies fourth in the championship standings with nine rounds remaining after the summer break.
Wolff lamented the stir that his words caused and told reporters, "That's exactly why things that are not being discussed directly face-to-face are being completely spun out of control in the wrong way."
"In today's race, starting P2, after lap one, Valtteri's race was the perfect wingman race - and I don't mean it in championship terms, because we have no number one, we have no number two, but it was just how he was racing."
"It was, from my standpoint, it was his best race so far with Mercedes in the last years. I don't know how much length the tyre was on but I guess it was around 50 - 54 [laps] - the tyre was completely shot."
"We were surprised he managed to hold Sebastian and Kimi behind for 25 or so laps and we knew the last five laps would be really critical.
"The bittersweet feeling I have is that he would have deserved to finish P2 - where he has started and where he was after lap one.
"But, are you saying maybe the word wingman doesn't do him justice? He just drove a sensational race and helped Lewis, in a way, to build the lead," added Wolff
Big Question: Is it fair to call Valtteri a wingman for Mercedes?
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