The first Sprint Race of the year turned out to be a juicy affair yesterday. The drama started right from the beginning when George Russell in P4 got off to a great start and overtook Max Verstappen. Things got spicy between the two in Turn 1 when Max attacked George from around the outside. The Mercedes youngster did not leave his Red Bull rival ample space, and they came together. The duo went on to complete the race and the Dutchman, later while confronting the Briton in the parc ferme, had some unsavory words to say. Surprisingly, he’s got some support from Russell’s team boss, Toto Wolff.

After the Lap 1 incident, Yuki Tsunoda crashed into the barriers, causing the deployment of the Safety Car. Drivers completed 3 laps behind the Safety Car until all the debris was cleared from the track. On the restart, Verstappen retook the P3 from Russell quite cleanly and had some boastful exchange of words with his race engineer. That did not go down well with the fans who reminded him about his own tainted past.

Toto Wolff responds to Max Verstappen’s angry comments directed at George Russell

During their confrontation in parc ferme, Russell apologized for his mistake and cited the lack of grip for it. Max then retorted by telling him that nobody had grip at that point and that he should have left enough space. While George was walking away, the cameras picked up Verstappen, calling the Mercedes man a “d**khead.”

Addressing the comments while talking with Sky Sports later, Toto said, “The contact between George and Max was a racing incident. One tried to go around the outside and that’s never easy. He took damage and that was not optimal for his race. It is understandable that he is angry, but George defended his position.” [Translated using Google]

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Wolff was overall happy with George’s performance during the Sprint. He also praised Charles Leclerc for completely overturning the fate of Ferrari overnight.

Toto Wolff goes gaga over Charles Leclerc’s performance despite losing P1

Ferrari struggled for pace in the first three Grand Prix of the season and was nowhere in the race to challenge Red Bull for the top spot. Leclerc changed that on Friday during the qualifying for the main race. Later, he carried that form during the Sprint Shootout. However, he lost the P1 he started the Sprint Race with to Sergio Perez. However, for Toto, it was still a phenomenal performance.

The Mercedes boss expressed, “The Ferrari fell off a bit during the race, but Charles did it smart. He knew he couldn’t keep Pérez, but maybe Max could. Master class.”

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Do you think Leclerc can hold on to his pole position right till the chequered flag for the main race later today?