Toto Wolff: Marko's nonsense is driving me crazy!
On the penultimate lap of the Qatar Grand Prix Kimi Antonelli made a mistake and went off the track at Turn 9. Lando Norris took advantage and passed Kimi, moving up to fourth. That meant Norris scored twelve points instead of ten.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko fears those two points could prove decisive in the title fight, and after the race Marko said Antonelli deliberately let Norris through. Those words enraged Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who did not hold back in his response to Marko.
"Poor Helmut is talking complete rubbish that just drives me insane!" Toto said angrily when asked to comment on Marko's remark. "We're fighting for second place in the Constructors' Championship, which is important to us. Kimi was fighting for a potential third place in the race. I mean, how brainless do you have to be to say something like that?
"It all infuriates me. The race itself infuriates me, the mistake at the end infuriates me, the other mistakes infuriate me, and then I hear this rubbish that just drives me insane. We're losing points in the Constructors' Championship like this.
"I've already spoken to Gianpiero Lambiase [Max Verstappen's race engineer]. I told him, 'He just went off, he had a moment in the previous corner, so he entered the long left at reduced speed, lifted off and at that moment lost the position.' Gianpiero and I cleared it up. He answered that he didn't see that moment, but why would we do that?
"Why would we interfere in the drivers' title fight at all? I mean, you should get yourself checked if you're seeing ghosts."
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Toto Wolff: Marko's nonsense is driving me crazy!
On the penultimate lap of the Qatar Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli made a mistake and went off the track at turn nine. Lando Norris took advantage of this and overtook Kimi. After the race Helmut Marko said that Antonelli had deliberately let Norris through. Those words enraged Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.