Wolff lashes out at ‘brainless’ Mercedes conspiracy mongers

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has described conspiracy theorists that question the way the team’s drivers are treated as “brainless” who should watch “Teletubbies or some Mickey Mouse” instead of Formula 1.

George Russell has had to take a power unit penalty at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as a result of his failure that forced his retirement from the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia last weekend. The Briton will also need another penalty later in the season to use an upcoming specification of Mercedes’ power unit, and a frustrated Wolff addressed claims that Kimi Antonelli has been favored at times this year.

“They’re brainless, whoever thinks that,” Wolff said. “I mean, it’s completely nonsensical. We’ve had it in the past with Lewis [Hamilton] fans. I mean, literally, I don’t know what's going on. Do they think I have a button that says, ‘George engine failure now,’ or disadvantaging one driver against the other when we are fighting for a constructors' championship, when we have always had the mindset of providing everybody equal material?

“But I guess this is maybe where social media goes today. People hide behind their screens and then they lash out. There’s a lot of polarization going on, and sometimes I read what people write. I find it hilarious. These people really contribute to my own entertainment when they are abusing the team or myself. I’m Satan, I’ve heard.

“So, overall funny … But really zero understanding and respect for people who come up with these things. They should, rather than watching Formula 1, they should do Teletubbies or some Mickey Mouse.”

Wolff has had his fair share of teammate tension to deal with in the past, having overseen Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fighting for championships for three consecutive seasons from 2014-16. The Mercedes team principal says his approach is one that was influenced long before he was in a title-contending situation, and that he takes any insinuation that one driver is being unfairly prioritized over another as a personal slight.

“I’ve always tried since I came into Formula 1, even in my Williams days, to be the most balanced and most transparent with the drivers,” he said. “I remember being a complete rookie and running into Alain Prost on the grid of a race, and I said, ‘Just out of interest, why did it go so wrong between you and [Ayrton] Senna?’ And he said, ‘Because we never knew what the team was about. You felt that you were the flavor of the month one time, and then two months later you thought the politics were going against you. There were different situations where you had the feeling that you’re really not wanted.’

“So, I took it as my challenge to keep it always balanced. And it was not easy with Lewis and Nico back in the day. That’s why people can think what they want, but the integrity in that respect is something that’s important for me, and the drivers know it.”

Battles for supremacy within a winning team will always have an element of tension, but Wolff wants both drivers to always feel he has their back. Andy Hone/Getty Images

Wolff points to the relationships he has with both drivers as central to his approach, and reiterates the fact that both Antonelli and Russell have been brought through the junior ranks into Mercedes F1 seats as part of the team’s development program.

“We have had Kimi since he was 11. He is an integral part of the team. It is very nice to see him grow, be in a position now that he is fighting for a championship at such a young age, the talent he has,” Wolff said. “And then on the other side, George, who has been with us since he was 17, someone that I feel a lot of emotions for and compassion [towards].

“We are very close. We are spending time with Carmen [Montero Mundt, Russell’s fiancée] and Susie [Wolff] off the track with each other. If people would see that we're traveling together, we’re having coffee in the same coffee shop, we’re going to the gym, that’s why it’s pretty annoying to have some lunatics that have no understanding really about how relationships work coming up with these kinds of accusations. So, I don’t pay any attention to this.”

With Russell running an older specification of car in Singapore as Mercedes tries to identify if its upgrade – introduced in Malaysia last weekend – has actually made it less competitive, Wolff says the fact the driver currently second in the championship could end up with quicker machinery highlights his point.

“Most important is that George knows how the team is and Kimi knows, and we will always try to give them equal opportunity,” he said. “When it comes to the upgrade, it’s a good example. We don’t know which one is going to be quicker. And so you take a decision and say, ‘Let’s try to find out.’ There is no great political thinking behind it.

“And when it comes to racing, like the ‘Papaya Rules,’ [at McLaren] we have always been very clear that we’re not standing in each other’s way. We don’t like the yo-yo racing that could cost a position if someone is close to us, and the quicker car, if it’s behind, is always going to have an advantage. And that could go either direction; it doesn’t matter.

“Even if it is now that it’s more realistic for Kimi to win a championship in sheer mathematical probability, we would still give George the same opportunities. And that’s important. That’s the ethos and the integrity on which the team has operated since 2013, since I came, and we are going to stick to that. And then people can think what they want.”