Toto Wolff believes that a decision by Max Verstappen in the final phase of qualifying this Saturday (5) ended up costing Mercedes the pole position at the Italian GP. According to the team principal, the Red Bull driver slowed down too much on the warm-up lap, leaving Kimi Antonelli and George Russell too close on the Monza track.
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Mercedes was considered one of the favorites for pole in Monza, but Pierre Gasly surprised with Alpine and took first place. Wolff acknowledged the Frenchman’s performance, although he lamented the missed opportunity for the German team: “Whoever is on pole obviously deserves it, and I’m very happy for Alpine for putting the car up there. The car was a rocket on the straights,” Wolff told Viaplay.
For the manager, Verstappen was strategic in managing the pace. “Max was very smart because he ruined the lap. He slowed down a lot. Kimi was very close to Max, and George was also very close to Max on his lap. That basically cost us the pole,” he says.
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When asked if Mercedes could have avoided the problem, Wolff admitted: “In hindsight, yes.” Still, he highlighted the difficulty of controlling the distance between cars and taking advantage of the slipstream. “Most of the time, you get this whole slipstream thing wrong. You try to create the ideal gap and find out how hard it is to control. That was definitely a problem today,” he explained.
Russell will start from second position, while Antonelli will start at the back of the grid after a penalty for changing power unit components.
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