04/09/2023
NEWS STORY
"Those numbers... it's for Wikipedia," says a sniffy Toto Wolff as frustration clearly gets the better of him.
There is some debate over just who originated the claim that "to be second is to be the first of the losers", and while one can understand such sentiment the fact is that nobody likes a 'sore loser'.
In the aftermath of the Italian Grand Prix, Toto Wolff's familiar smile was missing in action, indeed his was a face of thunder.
His drivers had finished fifth and sixth, both having given a good account of themselves, especially considering the fact that the Monza circuit does not suit the W14, however it was clearly the fact that Max Verstappen had scored a historic tenth successive win that really galled him.
"I don't know if he cares about the records," he responded when asked about the Dutchman's achievement. "It's not something that would be important for me, those numbers.
"It's for Wikipedia," he added, "and nobody reads that anyway."
The Austrian was subsequently seen in conversation with Hamilton, the Mercedes team boss's face like thunder.
"Our situation was a little bit different," he told Sky Sports, "because we had two guys fighting against each other within the team," he said, echoing comments he made at Zandvoort last week in reference to the gap in qualifying between Verstappen and his teammate, Sergio Perez, a topic subsequently picked up on by Hamilton himself.
Of course, Wolff's mood wasn't helped by the fact that both his drivers had been penalised during the race, Hamilton for a clash with Oscar Piastri and George Russell, who was deemed to have passed Esteban Ocon by leaving the track and gaining a "lasting advantage"
"I think both penalties you can justify," said Wolff, "so we are going to look at that and how we can prevent it in the future.
"I think we maximised what was in there today," he added. "They both did a great job to make sure they didn't have any consequence for the finishing positions, they both just took it on the chin, got their heads down and kept on racing.
"But you need to be careful not to be too happy about a fifth and a sixth," he admitted. "We know that these low-downforce circuits are not our strong suit, and in fact I think we have seen progress over the season from Baku to Spa to here.
"The next race is Singapore, so back to high downforce and coming towards our direction a little bit more. It will be important for us to maximise that opportunity when it comes."