Toto Wolff says Helmut Marko’s suggestion that Andrea Kimi Antonelli waved Lando Norris past at the end of the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix is “brainless” and “utter nonsense”.
Fighting over third with Sainz ahead and Norris behind him, Antonelli slipped up on the penultimate lap by sliding the rear tyres and drifting off the track at Turn 10, allowing Norris to snatch away fourth and with it two crucial championship points, as he now heads to Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead over Verstappen instead of 10.
According to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, Antonelli let Norris through on purpose, having not put up a significant defence against Oscar Piastri earlier in the race: “It was twice where he more or less waved Lando by [sic]. It was so obvious.”
When Marko’s comments were put to him, Wolff responded: “Bless him, Helmut. This is total, utter nonsense that blows my mind even to hear that. We’re fighting for P2 in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi’s fighting for a potential P3 [in the race].
“I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this? And it annoys me, because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went. I’m annoyed with the mistake at the end. I’m annoyed with other mistakes. And then hearing such nonsense blows my mind.”
Wolff said he had also cleared the air with Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who made a similar comment on the radio – but in the heat of the moment and not well after the chequered flag.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
“I spoke to GP. I saw him, and obviously, he was emotional in that moment, because they needed one position, I guess, to [help] win the championship. Now they need more.
“And I said to him, he just went off. He had a bit of a moment in the previous corner, and then had less entry speed into that left-hander, put the gas down and had that moment, which can happen, that lost the position. So with GP, everything’s clear. Cleared the air. He said he didn’t see the situation.
“Why would we do this? Why would we even think about interfering in a driver championship? I mean, you really need to check yourself whether you see ghosts. I said to GP that there’s quite a social media storm and GP said, ‘Sorry if I caused that.'”
Speaking about Mercedes’ own race, Wolff was disappointed by Antonelli and George Russell finishing fifth and sixth respectively, with Russell having been stuck in traffic after losing three positions at the start from the dirty side of the grid.
“When George was in free air, he did a 23.2 – a second quicker than before. With these cars now at the end of their life, you need the free air to perform. The moment you’re in a traffic jam, the turbulence gets so bad that your performance drops, the tyre drops, and you have no chance to recover.
“That’s why I believe we had a fast car. Qualifying showed that. We had a fast car in the sprint race. And I think we had a fast car today. But when you lose positions on the pitstop and you make mistakes in the race, obviously that’s not going to help. I think if you start in free air, you fight in the front.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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