F1 boss rages against competition
“How can you be so brainless as to say something like that?”
12/01/2025 – 8:37 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
The title fight in Formula 1 is more exciting than ever. The mood in the camps is running high. This shows a banal example.
The Formula 1 race in Qatar offered plenty of excitement and a winner for whom all doors are now open. Max Verstappen has the chance to become world champion for the fifth time at the last Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi next week. The McLaren drivers want to prevent this. How heated the mood is in the paddock and among those responsible was shown by a single overtaking maneuver from the race in Qatar yesterday, Sunday.
What had happened? On the penultimate lap, Lando Norris in his McLaren came rushing up behind Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli. The Italian initially held his own, but then made a driving mistake in the ninth corner. The consequence: Norris came over. Much to the annoyance of Verstappen’s Red Bull team.
Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase radioed the Dutchman: “I don’t know what happened to Antonelli. It looks like he just drove to the side and let Norris pass.” Also Red Bull’s motorsport boss Dr. Helmut Marko was of the same opinion and said: “He waved him past. That was more than clear.”
These statements in turn brought Mercedes boss Toto Wolff onto the scene, who countered directly and was quoted by “Bild” with a clear reaction: “This is really absolute nonsense. How can you be so brainless as to say something like that? We are fighting for second place in the constructors’ championship, Kimi still had the opportunity to finish third at this point. These statements annoy me.”
Then Wolff added: “The race annoyed me, the mistake annoyed me. And then someone comes around the corner with such nonsense.” According to Wolff, Verstappen’s racing engineer Lambiase apologized for the statements after Wolff informed him that a shitstorm against Antonelli had broken out on social media. The Italian himself described his mistake as “annoying”.