Wolff believes McLaren are "walking on a tightrope" after Italian GP

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toto wolff comments on mclaren and their team orders situation
2 September at 18:00
Last update 2 September at 18:03
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  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

For McLaren, the result of the Italian Grand Prix left them with more questions than answers regarding team orders. The British team allowed Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to do battle at Monza, allowing the latter to lose out on vital championship points as he finished in P3 behind Piastri, and now there is a lot of talk as to why McLaren and team principal Andrea Stella have not put their full support behind Norris to close the gap to Max Verstappen. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had his say on the matter.

Of course, Toto Wolff is no stranger to battles between teammates and prioritising drivers. When Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were teammates in 2014, 2015, and 2016, team orders were always a big talking point for the Austrian team boss. However, in McLaren's case, the only real chance of catching Verstappen with eight races to go belongs to Norris, whereas Hamilton and Rosberg were always battling against each other for the title. However, Wolff understands the nature of the decision that Stella and McLaren need to make.

Wolff says McLaren are "between a rock and a hard place"

Speaking in the paddock after the Italian Grand Prix, including to GPblog, Wolff said: "I think as a racing team that is battling at the front, I think you're between a rock and a hard place, because on one side, we want to make sure that the best man wins. On the other side, when it starts to become dysfunctional and impact your team's performance, how do you react to that?"

"If you freeze positions and you start to have team orders, then that's not what a racing soul wants to do. On the rational side, you don't want to lose the championship by 3 or 5 points, so you're walking that tightrope. Walking that tightrope is so difficult. There is no universal truth of how to handle it," concluded the Mercedes team boss.