Dr Helmut Marko has accused Lewis Hamilton of interfering when he advised Red Bull to promote Alex Albon at the expense of Pierre Gasly.

Marko has now backtracked on his claim that Hamilton called Red Bull “several times” in 2019 regarding their driver line-up.

Instead, insisted the 77-year-old, the World Champion simply had one conversation with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner on a plane.

Whether or not Hamilton’s words were taken on board, the switch did take place before the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix with Albon elevated to Red Bull while Gasly was dropped to the sister AlphaTauri team, then known as Toro Rosso.