WATCH: Toto Wolff’s ‘Dejected’ Reaction to Max Verstappen Crashing Out of Qualifying in Saudi Arabia

Toto Wolff has been offering quite a lot of content to the ‘meme factory’ since the start of this season, thanks to his hilarious on-camera reactions to certain incidents. In Brazil, it was his finger-pointing celebration after Lewis Hamilton passed a resilient Max Verstappen for the lead.

A couple of race weekends later, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Wolff is at it again. And yet again, his reaction was in response to a moment involving Verstappen, which subsequently favored Hamilton.

What happened at the end of qualifying?

Hamilton set his final lap time on the board and found himself at the top of the timesheets. What followed was a rather painful waiting game as Verstappen raced around the circuit for his final shot at pole position.

The Dutchman produced a couple of exemplary purple lap times through sectors 1 & 2 and looked very much the man to claim the first-ever pole in Saudi Arabia. However, the tables turned quite dramatically, meters away from the finishing line.

Verstappen pushed his Red Bull a bit too hard, late-braked, and slammed his car into the barriers around the exit of the final corner. He did try his best to limp on to see the chequered flag. But, keeping in mind the significance of the damage dealt, Verstappen had to switch off the engine and take the long walk back to the parc ferme.

While this chaos unfolded, cameras turned their attention to Wolff in the garage.

Wolff does a Bottas as Max Verstappen crashes out

Verstappen crashed out, and the cameras perfectly caught Wolff’s reaction. The Austrian unintentionally pulled off Bottas’ reaction to the Hamilton-Verstappen crash in Monza. ‘Oh no! Anyway…” the wise man once said.

And while Wolff did not say the exact same words, his reaction to Verstappen’s crash pretty much summed it up. Wolff gave the ‘dejected’ nod as he watched Verstappen shunt his Red Bull into the wall. It almost looked like he was disappointed.

But, we all know how he would have been reacting on the inside; pure joy and a massive sigh of relief. Mercedes would have hoped for a Hamilton pole, coming into Jeddah.

But, as an icing on the cake, Verstappen’s crash has handed Bottas P2 and subsequently, a front-row lock-out for Mercedes as well; their first since Mexico. Hence, is this where Verstappen’s title hopes start to diminish? We’ll know on Sunday night.

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