Whenever a Formula 1 driver is on a roll, it is not just their harsh words from their rivals’ fanbases that they need to deal with. Their rivals, and on certain occasions, rival Team Principals prove to be more of a menace. That is the role Toto Wolff plays in Max Verstappen’s professional life right now. The Mercedes boss recently accused the FIA of snatching away Lewis Hamilton’s dominance in 2021 and serving the 2021 championship to Verstappen on a platter. He has now doubled down on that by seemingly incriminating the FIA for not doing the same with Red Bull.

“Towards the end of the (2020) season, they changed the regs by cutting the floor out. That was to stop us, and we could see the results in 2021,” Wolff divulged recently, slamming F1’s governing body for biased practices. Ahead of the Singapore GP, the FIA introduces certain regulations concerning the flexi-wings that could reduce the advantage that the top 4 teams have. But FIA Formula Racing boss Nikolas Tombazis claimed, “Compared to other interventions in the past, I don’t expect a revolution.”

“It’s going to be interesting,” Wolff said, as quoted by Motorsport Total. “You’ve seen Aston Martin take a step back when their wing moved less, but I don’t know the details. Let’s wait and see. But maybe Red Bull is suddenly half a second slower. That would be nice. But I don’t think that will be the case,” said the Austrian, echoing Tombazis.

Read More: Max Verstappen Accused of Making Mountain Out of a Molehill After Lewis Hamilton & Toto Wolff’s “Dismissive” Comments

The rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull has escalated quite a bit. But all of this could never have panned out if Wolff had beaten their rivals to signing the reigning World Champion.

Toto Wolff once almost paired Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton v/s Max Verstappen – imagine what if we never had a debate about who’s better. The entire F1 world would have changed if Toto Wolff, who spotted the Dutchman’s talent in his karting days, signed him to race for the Silver Arrows.

On F1’s Beyond Grid podcast, Wolff said, “Max was very good in karting, was good in F3, and it was clear that there’s a big one that’s growing. We talked to them in the initial phases, and it was a nice discussion with (his dad) Jos and with Max involved as well.”

He elaborated, saying, “But it was clear that we couldn’t give him a seat because we had Nico [Rosberg] and we had Lewis [Hamilton]. We offered the support in F2 but since Red Bull was able to offer them the AlphaTauri seat, or Toro Rosso back in the day, it got Max into the seat.”

The world works in funny ways. Because the Mercedes cars were already packed with potential World Champions, Red Bull signed a 17-year-old Max Verstappen who is now en route to winning his 3rd World Championship with them.

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