Max Verstappen is currently on a joyride, winning all scheduled races all across the globe. While he is doing this, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have nothing to fight him with. Consequently, all they have been able to do is try to win the war of words in press conferences before and after races. One such instance was Toto Wolff discarding the Dutchman’s record-breaking 10th consecutive win at the Italian GP. When he made the comment, the Austrian received a lot of flak for it. But in a surprising turn of events, it has now been called “smart”.

After Verstappen’s historic win at Monza that marked his 10th consecutive win in 2023, Wolff was asked about his views on it. He sourly replied, “It’s for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway,” and that the record was “Irrelevant”. Apart from millions of fans, a lot of experts weren’t happy with such salty comments. However, on the latest episode of ESPN’s ‘Unlapped’ podcast, he has been labeled a genius for it.

The host began with a condemning statement for Wolff’s actions: “It’s amazing, isn’t it in sports, when teams dominate for ages, you can very quickly become a sour loser once that period starts. Some of the things we are hearing out of Mercedes, there’s not a huge amount of class and grace to it.”

Then he switched to why Wolff’s statements might have done a pretty good job for him: “At the same time, a part of me thinks Toto think all the headlines are gonna be about Max, let’s just flip it around a bit, and make it about Toto Wolff, which is pretty smart. Now, everyone is talking about not Red Bull and Max. They’re talking about what Toto Wolff said. It’s just Toto’s world and we are living in it. It’ll be the quote of the year. Because if Max keeps winning, at the end of the year, on Wikipedia, it’ll be 18.”

The Mercedes Team Principal’s statements did sound sour when he made them but this take gives an entirely different perspective to it. However, he has also made up for it by lauding Verstappen for his success.

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Toto Wolff covers up for Lewis Hamilton’s uncalled-for digs at Max Verstappen

In an interview ahead of the Italian GP, Lewis Hamilton called Max Verstappen’s victories not as well-deserved. And that was because the Red Bull racer never had any equally competent teammates as Hamilton did. To show these statements in a not-so-negative light, Toto Wolff has called it mere “fun” between the drivers.

“First of all, it’s obvious that the drivers like to poke each other a bit,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “But then you can say that Lewis has raced three world champions. He raced Jenson (Button), he raced Fernando (Alonso) and he raced Nico (Rosberg). But I don’t want to in any way diminish anybody’s performance because Max in the car is outstanding. So yeah, it’s just part of the fun.”

Though Verstappen is clearly dominating on-track, the rivalry off the racetrack is surely brewing well between the rival teams, making for good entertainment for fans.

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