Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, disagrees with McLaren’s Andrea Stella’s view that the incident between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in Austria has any connection to the 2021 season. Wolff believes that the events of 2021 had no influence on how the stewards penalized Verstappen in Austria.
After the Austrian race, McLaren’s team boss Stella compared the incident between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to the times when the Dutch driver encountered Lewis Hamilton on the track in 2021. According to the Italian team boss, there was not enough punishment at the time, which set a wrong precedent. Stella, therefore, thinks that Verstappen got off easily after the collision with Norris in Austria.
However, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff disagrees with his Italian colleague. “I don’t think you can draw this conclusion,” Wolff stated to MotorsportWeek. The Austrian admits that he has not yet properly seen the incident between Verstappen and Norris. “I need to see it first before I have an opinion, but I wouldn’t see it as a major consequence of the fact that 2021 was not well managed compared to what happened in 2024,” said Wolff. “I don’t think they have a correlation.”
Mercedes was ultimately the laughing third when Norris and Verstappen both could no longer compete for the victory after the incident. George Russell, therefore, took the win. Although Wolff is happy with his driver’s victory, he is not entirely satisfied with the way it came about. “At this moment, two have to crash at the front so we can win,” he admitted.
Wolff Still Hopeful for Verstappen’s Switch
According to Wolff, Mercedes still needs to improve so that they can compete at the front of the field even without an incident. “This is the moment when we need to become a destination for the best drivers, including Max,” Wolff seems to have not yet given up hope for a switch from Verstappen to Mercedes. “But we’re not there yet. So if I were him, I wouldn’t even consider such a step.”
