Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted after qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix that Max Verstappen’s dominance is “p****** me off”, as the Austrian had to watch on as the Red Bull driver claimed a third consecutive pole position.
Verstappen has been having a sensational weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the Dutchman having topped every session.
He was imperious in qualifying and only needed to complete one lap in Q3, with Red Bull having told him to bail on his final lap.
Unless something truly bizarre happens, the likelihood is that Verstappen will win comfortably on Sunday, as he targets a 40th career win.
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A win on Sunday would mark his third win in Spain, following previous wins back in 2016 and 2021.
Nobody has been able to compete with the 25-year-old all weekend, with Wolff admitting that the two-time World Champion is “on a different level”.
“I think Verstappen is just on a different level. It p***** me off to say that but that is the reality,” Wolff said after qualifying, as reported by the Express.co.uk
“There is a meritocracy, [Red Bull] have just done the best job, the driver’s driving excellent and they are just far away. And that is something which only we have in our hands to get under control.”
Wolff also addressed Lewis Hamilton’s and George Russell’s Q2 collision after qualifying, with the team boss having also put the incident down to a communication error.
Russell was unaware that Hamilton was on his inside down the start/finish straight, with the former Williams driver having accidently forced the 38-year-old off the circuit.
Contact was made with Hamilton’s front wing having been broken, in what could’ve been a horrific accident.
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Wolff doesn’t want to see the incident happen ever again and admitted that the Silver Arrows must “review” what happened.
“It shouldn’t happen. Team-mates should never collide and even with another car you shouldn’t collide in qualifying,” Wolff said.
“It’s always unfortunate circumstances that can potentially penalise both cars. Here it didn’t penalise George because he didn’t know and he went onto his lap. Lewis had to change his front wing. This is a team effort and something in our communications. We need to review after that incident to avoid it in the future.”