Toto Wolff drops an uncharacteristic reaction to Max Verstappen's controversial incident with George Russell

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff shared a rather surprising and uncharacteristic reaction to Max Verstappen's incident with George Russell, where the Austrian seemed almost noncommittal in criticizing the Red Bull driver's move. The F1 Spanish GP saw a somewhat controversial end to the race when the reigning champion was told by his team to cede position to Russell.

A late race safety car restart meant that Max Verstappen had to take evasive action for a late braking move by George Russell. The move saw the Dutch driver go off track and then rejoin ahead of the Mercedes driver. As the incident was with the stewards and Verstappen was being investigated, Red Bull ordered the driver to cede his position.

Max Verstappen was enraged at the order, and in what appeared to be a reflexive move, he ended up ramming into the side of George Russell's Mercedes when he was ceding his position. The move led to a call for a black flag from Nico Rosberg in the commentary, who called it intentional.

It also led to George Russell claiming that it felt intentional in the moment. Talking to F1.com after the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, however, gave a puzzling answer where he claimed that he wasn't aware that Max Verstappen had been told to cede position to Russell.

The Austrian further added that this was not an incident of road rage either and ended up claiming that the sequence of events was not nice. He said,

“I just heard, actually, that Max had the call to let him pass, right? I didn’t know. We were under the impression in the race that he had a problem with the car, and that’s why he was so slow getting out of [Turn 4]. I mean, if it was road rage, which I can’t imagine, because it was too obvious, then it’s not good. But the thing is, I don’t know what he aimed for."

He added,

"Did he want to let George pass and immediately repass, put George the car ahead? Then, like the old DRS games, letting him pass the right way? Or… for me, it’s just incomprehensible. But again, I don’t know exactly what the motivations were, and I don’t want to jump on it and saying, you know, this was road rage, et cetera. Let’s see what his arguments are. It wasn’t nice.”

Wolff sees similar pattern between Max Verstappen and the greats

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff felt that the pattern shown by Max Verstappen was similar to some of the greats of the past in F1 who tend to think that the world is against them. Seemingly talking about past greats like Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, who also had a tough time accepting mistakes, Wolff said,

“You know, there’s a pattern that I’ve read, the great ones, whether it’s in motor racing or in other sports, you just need to have the world against you and perform at the highest possible level."

He added,

“That’s why sometimes these greats don’t recognise that actually the world is not against you, it’s just you who has… you have made a mistake or you’ve screwed up, et cetera, et cetera. So, we haven’t seen any of these moments with Max for many years now. Obviously, I know the year 2021 that happened, and I don’t know where it comes from.”

The reaction from Toto Wolff does come as a bit of a surprise, as the Austrian is often quite clear in his thought process and bats for his drivers. The way the Mercedes boss sidestepped the opportunity to criticize Max Verstappen is further going to fuel rumors of the parties having conversations behind closed doors.