Toto Wolff has been at the center of media attention since his ‘Wikipedia’ comment on Max Verstappen’s achievements. The Mercedes team boss drew a lot of flak for his remarks, with many people claiming the Austrian should have congratulated the driver instead. Adding yet another angle to the scenario, Wolff now gives his explanation behind his salty comments from two weeks ago, as quoted by Racing365.
When Verstappen won the race in Monza, he became the first and only driver in history to win ten consecutive races in F1. Following the achievement, Wolff claimed the record meant nothing much and that it was only a Wikipedia entry that people wouldn’t even read.
Max Verstappen hits back at Toto Wolff’s Wikipedia comments:
“They had a bad race in Monza, so he was probably still disappointed about that.”
“It sometimes seems as if he works for our team, but fortunately that is not the case.”
[@ErikvHaren] #F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/l9x6R4GV87
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) September 14, 2023
In response, Verstappen had another salty statement, claiming he understood Wolff might be having a bad time since Mercedes had a “sh*t race,” which left the team principal “pi***d off.”
Toto Wolff cites Niki Lauda-like approach behind his comments
Having caused a major stir within the F1 community, Wolff addressed his previous comments and admitted to them not being in the best taste. In a press conference ahead of the Singapore GP, the Mercedes team principal mentioned he had a thinking much like that of former driver’s world champion Niki Lauda.
The Austrian cited an example of the legendary racer while saying he adopted a similar mindset.
“It is a mindset that I adopted from Niki Lauda.”
“Niki, for example, gave away his trophies in exchange for a free car wash. You won’t find much of that kind of memorabilia in my house either. Figures like that never really meant anything to us.”
Wolff added he did not want to be dismissive of Red Bull and Verstappen‘s achievements and asserts he respects all that the Milton Keynes-based team has achieved. He said when a race is over, Red Bull gets to take home the biggest trophy, and those are the valuable prizes each team fights for.
Wolff also said that F1 is a meritocracy where “The best driver in the best car wins the world championship.”
Wolff’s latest words keep in line with his older statements
Many might consider Wolff’s statements to be a form of damage control and ‘buttering up’ his rivals. While the former might certainly be true, the latter part remains arguable, especially since it is not the first time the Austrian has claimed F1 to be a meritocracy within which Red Bull is doing an impressive job. Ahead of the Italian GP, Wolff was asked if he thought there was a need to change the F1 rules to put a halt to Red Bull’s dominion.
The Red Bull RB19s – so far unbeaten in 2023 #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/KP96AVTOx5
— Phillip Horton (@PHortonF1) June 30, 2023
The 51-year-old replied he did not want to be a part of the bandwagon of people who claim there needs to be a change within F1 rules because they cannot keep up with the best team in the sport. He added, “If a team in a way dominates in a way Max has done with Red Bull, then fair do’s. This is a meritocracy,” as long as a team complies with all the regulations.
