Toto Wolff insists that Lewis Hamilton will do whatever it takes to stop Max Verstappen from winning the Championship.
Hamilton and Verstappen are in the middle of a closely fought battle for the title in 2021. Both of them have led the Championship at various stages during the season, and it is still anybody’s guess who will reign supreme by the end of the year. The Red Bull driver is currently 12 points ahead of Lewis in the standings with five races remaining.
Lewis and Max have clashed on track on more than one occasion this season. Their first incident was during the first lap of the British Grand Prix when the two made contact, resulting in the Dutch driver crashing out of the race. A few rounds later, both drivers took each other out at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
However, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff refuses to rule out another incident between the two title rivals. He compared the situation to the Senna-Prost years, insisting that Lewis would do anything to deny Verstappen.
“If it was to come to the scenario of the last race in Abu Dhabi. They were to be racing each other for the title. Whoever is in front is absolutely going to try to do the same as in the Senna-Prost years,” said Wolff
Also read: Red Bull boss Christian Horner on his intense ongoing rivalry with Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff
Max Verstappen’s collision with Lewis Hamilton in Monza was understandable
There has been a lot of debate as to who was at fault in Lombardy last September. A slow pit-stop from the Red Bull team saw Verstappen racing Hamilton as the former exited the pits. The two drivers then made contact at turn 1, which saw the Red Bull car lift off and land on top of Hamilton’ Mercedes.
On the other hand, Toto Wolff thinks that it was Verstappen who crashed into Hamilton but that it was an understandable situation, something which a lot of drivers would have done.
“What happened in Monza? Verstappen took Lewis out because he was about to overtake, and he was quicker. And that is totally understandable.
“You are racing for the championship and you see it fading away because the other guy is overtaking you. What other tool have you got other than the one that makes sure he can’t overtake? We’ve seen it with Schumacher and Villeneuve, we saw it with Senna and Prost twice.”
“I don’t think you can control it. I don’t think you want to control it because they are the gladiators in their machines. You wouldn’t want to have calmed the gladiators in the arena 2,000 years ago. We will not interfere.”
Many people, including Helmut Marko, feel that these two drivers are doing something extraordinary in 2021. The Red Bull motorsport advisor thinks that they are so evenly matched that the title will be decided by other non-racing factors.
The season is well poised to treat fans with an epic finale in the remaining five races.
