Wolff Warns McLaren: Monza Team Orders Will Haunt You.
The line that will follow McLaren into the flyaways: “You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo.”
8 Sep 2025
Alex Albuquerque
Fastest Lap

Toto Wolff warns McLaren: Monza team orders set a template that’s hard to roll back. One sticky wheel nut, one calm radio call, and a championship fight nudged onto a knife-edge. McLaren’s decision at Monza to instruct Oscar Piastri to hand back position to Lando Norris after a slow stop has already become the weekend’s most argued moment, and Toto Wolff didn’t miss the significance.

Norris had been ahead of his teammate and chasing Max Verstappen for second when a sluggish front-left cost him track position. McLaren stepped in. Piastri was told to move aside — a repeat of last year’s Hungary logic — and after a brief pushback, he did. Later, the Australian called it a fair request given Norris lost out through no fault of his own. Fair? Many will nod along. Simple? Not even close.

“There’s no right and no wrong,” Wolff said at Monza, before landing the line that will follow McLaren into the flyaways: “You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo.” Wolff knows this world better than anyone — and also knows how badly it can burn. He lived the Hamilton–Rosberg civil war up close, a political thresher that churned through 2016. He doesn’t see that playing out at Woking. “We had two very different animals back then,” he said, contrasting his pair’s all-out, take-no-prisoners mentality with McLaren’s calmer dynamic.

‘Monza Team Orders Will Haunt You’;

https://fastestlap.com/news/wolff-wa...ill-haunt-you/


“Very good Kimi, get them!”: Wolff’s unheard mid-race encouragement to Antonelli
8th September 2025
Keith Collantine
RaceFans

Antonelli made his pass on Tsunoda after the Red Bull driver briefly fell out of range of the cars ahead. Wolff and race engineer Peter Bonnington praised his move.
Lap: 18/53 ANT: 1’23.979
Bonnington Five ahead and behind. Overtake still available.
He passes Tsunoda
Bonnington Overtake to defend. Nice work Kimi, so gap 1.0 behind, you’ve got 1.8 ahead, so let’s get the brakes under control, let’s chase Alonso, put Bortoleto down.
Bonnington Gap 1.9 ahead, 0.8 behind. Alonso, Bortoletto doing 24.2 ahead of them Lewis, 23.7.
Lap: 19/53 ANT: 1’23.940
Wolff Very good Kimi, get them.
Bonnington Bearman has pitted, currently 2.8 safe to him. Gap 1.7 ahead, 1.4 behind.
Lap: 20/53 ANT: 1’23.746
Bonnington Tsunoda in. Just keep your head down Kimi, let’s have the pace you’ve got.
Lap: 21/53 ANT: 1’23.688
Bonnington It’s very low deg. Target lap on Plan A, so still Plan A target lap.
Lap: 22/53 ANT: 1’23.295
Antonelli Update on pace.
Bonnington Stand by, waiting for Alonso to complete. All those cars that have pitted are sat right on our pit window. Main loss last lap was turn eight, min speed, that’s to George. George doing 23.4.

“Very good Kimi, get them!”;

https://www.racefans.net/2025/09/08/...-to-antonelli/


Toto Wolff delivers stinging ‘underwhelming’ Kimi Antonelli Italian GP assessment
8 Sep 2025
Jamie Woodhouse
PlanetF1.com

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff still has faith in Kimi Antonelli, but gave a damning assessment of his performance at Monza. Wolff was not impressed. “Underwhelming this weekend, underwhelming,” he told PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher and other media outlets of Antonelli’s performance. “He can’t put the car in the gravel bed and then to expect to be there. All of the race was underwhelming.

“Doesn’t change anything on my support and confidence in his future, because I believe he’s going to be very, very, very good. But, today was underwhelming.” Put to him that Antonelli seems to be struggling for a clean weekend, Wolff replied: “I think a clean weekend also means almost, not to carry too much trauma of previous mistakes into the next session or into the next weekend, because that is luggage.’

“You’re not going to attack the corner hard if you’ve been off there before and it finished your session, or maybe you’re not attacking a driver that should not be in your way, like Gasly, because we had this situation with Leclerc. I mean, Kimi shouldn’t lose even a second with Gasly.”

“That is luggage”;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-w...ian-grand-prix


Mercedes boss Wolff issues ‘silly’ verdict after Verstappen destroys field at Monza
Wolff says Mercedes must improve after Verstappen exposed their weaknesses in Italian GP
7 September 2025
John Smith
Total Motorsport

Toto Wolff left Monza in no doubt about the scale of the challenge facing Mercedes after watching Max Verstappen dominate the 2025 Italian Grand Prix. While the Red Bull driver cruised to a near-20-second victory over Lando Norris, Mercedes struggled for competitiveness, leaving Wolff to brand the result “frustrating” and acknowledge that his team simply did not have the pace to fight at the front.

“Today, one driver made everyone else look silly,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1, reflecting on Verstappen’s performance. “Overall, we weren’t competitive over the weekend. A fifth and an eighth place are absolutely not satisfactory. I don’t think, with our current set-up, we have a car that we can consistently drive onto the podium.”

“Today, one driver made everyone else look silly”;

https://www.total-motorsport.com/f1-...stappen-monza/


Red Bull facing ‘Mount Everest’ F1 engine challenge in Wolff warning
9 Sep 2025
Jamie Woodhouse
PlanetF1.com

Red Bull has not sought out a new supplier. Instead, it is building its own engine, in partnership with Ford. The last time Formula 1 revamped its engine regulations, Mercedes emerged as the class of the field. Between 2014-21, the team went on a run of eight straight Constructors’ title wins, an achievement never before seen in Formula 1.

The man at the helm of that success, Toto Wolff, suggests Red Bull has its work cut out as it embarks on its expanded effort. “This project is like climbing Mount Everest,” said Wolff about Red Bull Powertrains, when speaking with De Telegraaf.

“They are taking on manufacturers with decades of experience. But everyone joked when Red Bull entered the sport too. It was like an energy drink manufacturer taking on Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren. Well, they’ve won quite a lot. But given the complexity of the engines, I do think it will be a huge challenge for them.”

‘Mount Everest’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-w...huge-challenge