Wolff Blasts “Brainless” Red Bull Claims About Antonelli and Defends Mercedes Strategy

Toto Wolff has condemned suggestions from senior Red Bull figures that Kimi Antonelli intentionally allowed Lando Norris to overtake him in the closing laps of the Qatar Grand Prix. Wolff described the comments as brainless and stressed that Mercedes had every reason to protect Antonelli’s position.

Norris had been chasing Antonelli in the final phase of the race and appeared to be running out of opportunities to pass. The Mercedes driver then ran wide at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap, which allowed Norris to move into fourth place and collect two additional championship points. The result gives Norris a twelve point lead over Max Verstappen entering the season finale in Abu Dhabi, with Oscar Piastri four points behind Verstappen in third.

Red Bull personnel expressed frustration after the race. Gianpiero Lambiase told Verstappen on the radio that it looked like Antonelli had “just pulled over and let Norris through.” Helmut Marko later claimed that Antonelli had “waved” Norris past.

Wolff Fights Back

Wolff dismissed those claims and revealed that Lambiase had since apologised for the radio message.

“This is total utter nonsense. That blows my mind even to hear that,” Wolff said after the race. “We are fighting for P2 in the Constructors Championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3 race finish.

How brainless can you be to even say something like this. It annoys me because I am annoyed with the race itself and how it went. I am annoyed with the mistake at the end. I am annoyed with other mistakes, and then hearing such nonsense blows my mind.”

Wolff added that he confronted Lambiase after the race.

“I spoke to GP Lambiase. I saw him, and obviously he was emotional in that moment because they needed a P3 to help win the championship and now they need more. 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 at that moment that can happen and the position is lost. So with GP everything is clear. We cleared the air.

“He said he did not see the situation.

“I said to GP that there is quite a social media storm. He said sorry if I caused that, I did not see the incident.”

From F1 news to tech, history to opinions, F1 Chronicle has a free Substack. To deliver the stories you want straight to your inbox, click here.

For more F1 news and videos, follow us on Microsoft Start.

New to Formula 1? Check out our Glossary of F1 Terms, and our Beginners Guide to Formula 1 to fast-track your F1 knowledge