02 July 2023 , 11:50
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Toto Wolff criticised Max Verstappen, accusing him of taking "revenge" against Lewis Hamilton at the Red Bull Ring.
The 2021 Formula 1 title rivals were involved in a flashpoint during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint. It proved to be a nightmare morning for Hamilton, whose grid position for the short-form race was unusually poor.
He went out in SQ1, qualifying only 18th. In contrast, Verstappen comfortably secured pole ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
But the Dutchman had been involved in Hamilton's misfortune. The seven-time world champion needed to set a good final flying lap right at the end of that first part of the session after having an earlier lap deleted.
However, he was alongside Verstappen just as he began that last attempt. He had been warned by his Mercedes team that the Red Bull racer would be there on track with him.
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That led to, Verstappen claimed, Hamilton blocking him off in that final part of the track. "He blocked me into the last corner, so I had to brake more and I lost like three-tenths, so that wasn't ideal and I think not correct," said the defending champion.
He went on to return the favour, though. After racing up the start/finish straight alongside Hamilton, he turned into the first corner just ahead of the Brit, forcing the Mercedes man to slow down and ending his chances of setting the time he needed to continue in the session.
Toto Wolff thinks Max Verstappen was getting "revenge" on Lewis Hamilton (Getty Images)While Wolff admitted his team could have done more to avoid the first part of the incident, the Mercedes team principal expressed his belief that Verstappen had deliberately got his own back on Hamilton.
The Austrian said: "The mistake happened on our side. The communication between us and Lewis didn't give him the right information to get out of Max's way. I think no-one wants to be in anybody's way because if you impede, you're getting penalised – so that was not the aim.
"On the other side, Turn 1 was a revenge foul. It was just to make sure that [Hamilton's] lap was ruined. So one was not intentional, the other one was intentional – but who cares? At the end, we looked at whether it was going to change our race or not... But I think they're going to talk about it at the drivers' briefing next week."