The imaginary shootout that Mercedes is trying to downplay Max Verstappen’s achievements continued after the race.
Red Bull has won every race of the season so far. In addition, Max Verstappen has now won 10 races in a row, a record. Verstappen’s success in Monza made him independent in first place, having shared the record with Sebastian Vettel since Zandvoort. For example, Hamilton managed to win “only” five races in a row. Better was Rosberg, who won seven times in a row, but not in one season.
Toto Wolff downplayed Verstappen’s cut, even with similar arguments as Lewis Hamilton made earlier in Monza. The Briton said Verstappen has never had as strong team-mates as he has had in his career.
“Our situation was maybe a bit different because we had two drivers in the team who were fighting against each other,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“I don’t know if he cares about the record, it’s not something that’s important to me, none of those numbers. It’s good for Wikipedia, but no one reads it anyway.”
“For me, such records are completely irrelevant. They were irrelevant even in our good times at Mercedes. I don’t know how many races we’ve won in a row, and I didn’t even know how many races you win in a row counts.”
“That’s why it’s hard to ask me to comment on any success because it’s never played a role in my entire life. The result itself shows that great drivers in a great car are racing at an extremely high level.”
One record Wolff is interested in (a little) after all
Asked if the Red Bulls could be beaten at any of the remaining circuits, Wolff replied: “No, I think they have to screw themselves up.”
“They are on course to win every race this season, which by the way is a record I would consider good because it means excellence.”
“We didn’t do it (in 2016, editor’s note) because our two riders crashed into each other in Barcelona and then we had an engine failure in Malaysia.”
A wild race
Mercedes scored solid points in Monza, but it was a very wild race. Both drivers were penalized – Russell for leaving the track at the first corner and gaining the advantage in a duel with Ocon and Hamilton for colliding with Piastri.
“It was a race full of incidents for us and we scored the maximum possible points today,” said Wolff. “But as always we have to be careful not to get too complacent with fifth and sixth place.”
“Looking back on them, I think both drivers’ penalties were fair, but luckily they both did a great job not to have any finish consequences – they both just took it in stride, put their heads down and raced on.”
“We know that these low downforce circuits are not our strong point. But in reality, I think we’ve progressed over the course of the season from Baku to Spa to here.”
2023-09-03 19:17:27
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