04 September 2023 , 13:22
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Damon Hill slammed "ungracious" Mercedes chief Toto Wolff after his rude dismissal of Max Verstappen's accomplishments.
The Red Bull star continued his remarkable winning streak with victory at the Italian Grand Prix. It marked the first time an F1 racer has ever won 10 races in a row.
Not even when Mercedes were at their most dominant did Lewis Hamilton ever manage that. But Wolff claimed that is "because we had two guys fighting each other" and was blunt in his appraisal of Verstappen's achievement.
"I don't know if he cares about the records. It is not something that would be important for me," he said. "Those numbers, it is for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway."
Those words from the Austrian angered Hill, who hit back at the Mercedes chief. "It sounded a bit churlish and not very gracious," the 1996 drivers' world champion said.
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"It's unlike Toto because he's usually very sporting. But he is hurting a bit now. They know what it is like to be dominant and they didn't even get on the podium in Monza. They seem to be a bit stymied and can't seem to work out what to do. But who can? It seems like everywhere we go, Red Bull has got the upper hand.
"Max has achieved something no-one else has ever done. Red Bull have won 14 races this year and it is an incredible record, but you can't just put it down to the car. This guy is special. Throughout Max's career, from the moment he arrived in F1, he has done things no-one has done before and he continues to polish off this season."
Wolff cut a frustrated figure after the race. George Russell finished fifth with Hamilton one place behind which, realistically, was probably the best they could have hoped for. Both drivers were given penalties during the race, but neither of them lost a place because of them.
The Austrian acknowledged that his drivers had "maximised the points" on the table, but warned: "Like always, we need to be careful not to be too happy about finishing fifth and sixth.
"Looking back at them, I think both penalties for the drivers were fair, but fortunately they both did a great job to make sure they didn't have any consequence for the finishing positions – they both just took it on the chin, got their heads down and kept on racing."