DOHA, Dec 1 : Mercedes boss Toto Wolff accused Red Bull’s Helmut Marko of “total, utter nonsense” in suggesting Kimi Antonelli moved aside for McLaren’s Formula One leader Lando Norris in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.
Mercedes driver Antonelli was fourth with Norris fifth until the Briton went past on the penultimate lap of a race won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The overtake meant Norris, whose car has a Mercedes engine, goes to the final round in Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead over Verstappen rather than 10.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase informed him over the radio what had happened and said it looked like Antonelli just pulled over to let Norris through.
Marko, Red Bull’s 82-year-old motorsport consultant, said later it was “obvious” Antonelli “more or less waved Lando by”.
Antonelli said he had made a mistake in the dirty air while following Carlos Sainz’s Williams – also Mercedes-powered – and almost crashed.
“I was pushing hard to stay ahead of Norris in the closing stages and unfortunately just pushed a little bit too hard. I got out of shape through turn nine and then had a massive snap of oversteer,” he said.
WOLFF SAYS ACCUSATION IS ‘BRAINLESS’
Wolff told reporters that fellow Austrian Marko’s accusation was ridiculous.
“We are fighting for P2 (2nd place) in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3,” said the Austrian.
“I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this?
“And it annoys me because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went,” added the boss. “And then hearing such nonsense blows my mind.”
Wolff said he spoke to Lambiase and cleared the air, with the engineer explaining he had not seen the situation.
“But why would we do this? Why would we even think about interfering in a driver championship? You really need to check yourself whether you are seeing ghosts,” he added.
McLaren have already won the constructors’ championship for a second successive year and Mercedes are second overall, 33 points clear of Red Bull in third with a maximum 43 still to be won.
