Wolff left experiencing ‘deja vu’ after Verstappen incidents

Toto Wolff feels he suffered from a bout of “deja vu” in the Max Verstappen-Lando Norris incidents in Mexico back to 2021.

That year, Verstappen was engaged in a white hot, controversial and bitter title fight with Lewis Hamilton – with some of his driving late in the season now widely accepted as having gone over the mark 

In Brazil, he lunged Hamilton at Turn 4, forcing both off the track but did not receive a penalty, although a similar move would now be punished, with similar lunges in Saudi Arabia earning a penalty.

Wolff felt that these moves “legitimised” Verstappen’s on-track behaviour as the Mercedes boss admitted to flashbacks to late 2021 after Verstappen’s penalties for the Norris moves in Mexico City. 

“I am experiencing déjà vu,” Wolff told OE24.

“Only in this case, it’s not about us, but it is about Norris although the animosity between Norris and Verstappen is not as great as that between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen in 2021.

“I think it was a good decision by the stewards and it becomes clear that this hard-driving style is not allowed in the future. 

“A 20-second penalty is the right precedent to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.

Moves are ‘good for business’

Wolff also suggested that the incidents – and that which happened in the United States Grand Prix the weekend before, benefitted the whole of F1.

“It’s great for the show. We all benefit from it, including me as co-owner of Mercedes,” he added.

“If the show is good, business is good. There was something for everyone in Mexico: the performance of Carlos Sainz, the underperformance of Charles Leclerc, the misperformance of [Sergio] Perez.

“There were accidents with polarisation, our drivers as rock-hard racers, but our first priority is to win.”