Toto Wolff criticizes Max Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for his comments on Kimi Antonelli’s passing of Lando Norris at the Qatar GP | F1 News

Toto Wolff has described Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase as “foolish” after suggesting Kimi Antonelli intentionally allowed Lando Norris to overtake him in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.

Championship leader Norris appeared to have failed in his attempts to overtake Antonelli before the Mercedes driver spun wide at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap, allowing the McLaren to grab fourth place and two crucial additional points.

The pass means Norris takes a lead of 12 points instead of 10 over Verstappen for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend, with his British teammate Oscar Piastri also still in contention four points further back in third.

Clearly frustrated that winner Verstappen’s points gain over Norris had been reduced, Lambiase told the Dutchman on Red Bull radio that it looked like Antonelli had “just stopped and let Norris pass”.

While Wolff later revealed that Lambiase had apologized for the radio remarks, the Silver Arrows boss was still highly critical of Verstappen’s trusted colleague.

“It’s totally absurd. It blows my mind to even hear that,” Wolff said after the race.

“We are fighting for P2 in the (Constructors) Championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3 (race finish).

“How stupid can you be to say something like that? It annoys me because I’m annoyed by the race itself, by the way it went.

“I’m annoyed by the mistake at the end. I’m bothered by other mistakes, and then hearing such nonsense leaves me perplexed.”

Wolff reveals Lambiase apology

Wolff revealed he confronted Lambiase over his comments after the race and the long-time Red Bull figure apologized.

“I spoke to GP (Lambiase). I saw him, and obviously he was emotional at that time, because they needed a P3, I guess, to help them win the championship, now they need more.

“I told him, ‘he just went’. He had a little moment in the previous corner, then he had less entry speed in that left corner, he lowered the throttle, and at that point it can happen, then he lost the position. So with GP, everything is clear. We cleared the air.

“He said ‘he didn’t see the situation’.

“I told GP there was a real storm on social media. He said ‘sorry if I caused this, I didn’t see the incident’.”

Antonelli explains ‘unexpected’ error

Antonelli said he was frustrated after the “huge moment” allowed Norris to pass him in the closing stages.

The Italian teenager was chasing Carlos Sainz for the final podium spot when he made a mistake at Turn 9, which then led to him going wide at the next corner.

Antonelli said Sky Sports F1: “Quite frustrating to finish fifth given the podium was so close.

“We lost a lot of time behind Carlos. It was really tough with the dirty air and the tires were overheating a lot.

“With the hard tires I pushed a lot to get closer to Carlos. Eventually I was in DRS, or very close, but in turn 9 I went in a little faster and had a huge moment.”

“It was a bit unexpected, but I just lost the rear and went off the track. You just have to look at why the mistake happened and what I did different.”

“I came in faster but not much different. It’s a shame to lose the place because it would have been two more points.”

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