Mercedes’s Team Principal Toto Wolff opened up on his relationship with the three-time World Champion Max Verstappen following the hotly contested 2021 F1 eason.
The 27-year-old won his first ever Formula 1 title at the final, controversial Abu Dhabi round which saw the race end in a final, one lap shootout between himself, second on fresh rubber, and Lewis Hamilton, who had led the most of the race but didn’t pit.
It was not the only divisive moment of the season, with the duo colliding a number of times.
In Monza, the seven-time World Champion had a scare as Verstappen’s car went over the top of his halo, whereas in Silverstone the Dutch driver had suffered from a 51G impact at Copse following a collision with the Brit.
Hamilton was hit with a ten-second time penalty, but he was still able to end his home race on the top step, with Verstappen not scoring.
At the time, all Red Bull affiliated personnel members had brought up to the media their displeasure with a small punishment, as they believed it to be not harsh enough considering the severity of the impact.
Recently, former Red Bull CTO Adrian Newey spoke about the matter on the High Performance Podcast, mentioning that, while he keeps being extremely grateful for the fact that the Dutchman had come out of the severe crash almost unscatered, he believes that at the time he had criticised Hamilton too much, also due to the fact he was sure it had been an intentional contact when it happened.
On the opening lap, the Mercedes driver attempted to dive up the inside at Copse, but he made contact with Verstappen’s right rear tyre and sent him into a high speed crash.
“The Silverstone accident between Lewis and Max, which I must admit, at the time, I was absolutely incandescent with Lewis because I felt it was a deliberate professional foul.
“I think now with the benefit of hindsight and time, then they’ve been banging wheels all the way around the lap up to that corner.
“Lewis went for an opportunity, which he thought was there, misjudged it, and what happened, happened.
“Max could have… We were lucky that Max didn’t get badly hurt in that accident.
“So, I understand sort of how it happened now, perhaps better, and I was too harsh on Lewis at the time.”
Asked to reply to Newey’s declarations on the same podcast, and to revisit the matter three years after with a clearer mind, Wolff appreciated the honesty from the now Aston Martin employee.
“Adrian reflects very well, and I think his intellect is something that shines. You always have to be able to recalibrate yourself.
“I read something that I really liked a while ago, play hard, forgive quickly, and apologise when you’re wrong, and that’s the way I try to live.
“Silverstone, the way he described it is in a way how today you can see things. These guys have been banging wheels, not only that first lap, but they’ve been banging wheels all along.
“I think that was a moment where the two decided of not yielding that corner, and it ended up in the situation that it ended up.”
Wolff also has his own dues to pay with a calm mind, apologising to Verstappen’s family and team for not getting information on his health at the time from them as the rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull got even very tense after the 2021 F1 British GP.
“Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt.
“I said before, I could have reacted in a better way because I heard from one of the Red Bull engineers that he was fine in that respect.
“That was, you know, tick the box. Max is fine, we went on to win the race and he didn’t score. So, that was important to bounce back in the championship.
“I felt the driving at times was not clean.
“And in retrospect, I should have just picked up the phone and called Jos and say, is he fine? Now, Jos clearly would have told me what he was thinking about that situation, but that’s fine.
“But I should have, as a father, called the father of the driver and say, just ask, and I didn’t.”
While he feels remorse for not acting up on the impulse he should have had as a father according to himself, Wolff has since talked it out with Verstappen and his father, former F1 driver Jos, acknowledging that during that the 2021 season emotions were running high on both sides.
“Now we cleared the air on that one. And there were many more instances in that particular year that were not to the standards that we all expect from each other.
“So that’s fine.”
Overall, the Mercedes boss nowadays sees the 2021 season as a learning opportunity which brought knowledge to use these days, in spite of having missed out on what could have been a record-breaking eight driver title for Hamilton.
“That year will be remembered as one of the, let’s say, toughest years in Formula One between two drivers, two teams, team principals, and it ended up in a situation that was overall not great for Formula One.
“How do I reflect about it? I try to learn and make sense, see what we could have done better all along and try to do that.”
Wolff also talked about the unexpected driver change Mercedes will face going into the upcoming season, as Lewis Hamilton will part ways with the Brackley-based team after eleven years to join Ferrari.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been appointed as his replacement, with the 18-year-old rookie driver from the Mercedes Junior driver programme set to move up from Formula 2.
The team principal, who has a close bond both with the Italian and his future, more experienced teammate and formerly member of the Mercedes Junior Driver Programme as well George Russell, admits he is very pleased with the idea of having the two of them on the same team, products of his hard work:
“Having Kimi and George in the car, homegrown, real Mercedes juniors that delivered at every step of their career that we supported is a very… I’m very much looking forward to that situation.”
As much as he can be content with his driver duo, nobody would say no to a talent such as Max Verstappen.
Asked if he would consider signing him, Wolff is not going to rule it out, stating what happened in the 2021 F1 season has not hindered the relationship between him and the Verstappen family.
“We get on very well, not always in the visibility of the public eye.
“Max is a great driver and an interesting personality. And God knows what happens in the future.
“I’ve also known Jos for a long time. He’s my age. We have similar views on racing, and I wouldn’t want the year 2021 to put any shadow on any personal relationship that we have.
“It was bad enough that year, but the relationships are intact, good. And I love the learning that you’ve taken from it.”
