Toto Wolff contemplates spending time with Charles Leclerc over a coffee at Starbucks. No further interactions take place. The Monegasque’s potential move to Mercedes gets shut down. From this series of events, it is clear that for Wolff, any sort of association with Leclerc was never his concern. But since the Silver Arrows cannot close the gap to Max Verstappen, the Austrian billionaire is now taking a piggyback ride on Ferrari’s shoulder in an attempt to overthrow the reigning World Champion.

The Maranello outfit came through with flying colors on their home turf in Monza. Carlos Sainz pipped Verstappen by 13 thousandths of a second to take pole for the Italian GP. His teammate, Leclerc, rounded up the Top 3. While they showed some sublime flying laps and started their comeback, Mercedes wasn’t able to catch up. George Russell, unexpectedly but fortunately for him, secured P4, but Lewis Hamilton could only manage P8. So, their helpless Team Principal has become a part of the Tifosi, backing Sainz and Leclerc, just to see Verstappen lose.

“Verstappen is still the favorite because the car has been so good and he has been faultless,” admitted Wolff. This is where he switched up his stance to paint himself in the Ferrari red, just so that the Dutchman’s streak comes to an end. He continued: “But it would be good for F1 if they (Ferrari drivers) give him a hard time and seeing a Ferrari win in Monza, if it can’t be us, then it should be Ferrari.”

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Wolff can change all the loyalties he wants to dethrone the 2x champ. Yet, Verstappen is confident of winning the race from P2.

Max Verstappen set to upset Toto Wolff and Tifosi on the back of Red Bull’s blistering race pace

Ferrari had nearly everything in their favor at Monza. The entire crowd was rooting for them. Their SF-23 excels on tracks requiring low downforce, which was ticked off the checklist. Sainz made full use of this to get pole position for the Tifosi to celebrate. Though Ferrari turned out to have a quicker one-lap pace, the long-run pace is still in the RB19’s favor. So, Wolff favoring Ferrari might not amount to anything.

“I was happy with the lap in Q3, so nothing really to complain about. It was just not enough for pole but we know we have a good race car. It is all about the race pace and if we have better race pace, like normal, we will try to put the pressure on them. I am happy with how we set up the car for the race and hopefully that will pay off on Sunday.”

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Can the Sainz-Leclerc duo do something extraordinary to beat Verstappen or will the reigning World Champion make history by taking his 10th consecutive win this year and upset the Tifosi?