Wolff insists Verstappen's hefty penalties will change how F1 drivers race

The current battle is between Lando Norris and Verstappen, but the Mercedes boss has experience battling against Red Bull's Verstappen in the F1 World Championship. Wolff's driver, Lewis Hamilton, often crossed paths with Verstappen on track in a dramatic 2021 season.

In the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen was slapped with two ten-second time penalties in the battle with Norris during the early stages of the race. This came one week after the two met on track in the United States. Between Austin and Mexico, the talking point was about the regulations. The topic came up during the drivers' briefing and reports suggested the FIA will look to revisit the wording of the regulations.

After the penalties he got in Mexico, Wolff was asked if Verstappen would be deterred from his style. "A driver will always push to the limit and, when the rules or the interpretation of the rules allow a certain way of racing, a driver like Max is always going to exploit it. Now there has been a new interpretation and execution of those regulations, and I think it will change the way everyone races in future and you won’t see that anymore," Wolff said.

Wolff's opinion on the stewards

"I think the stewards today decided that they don't want to see drivers pushing each other out of the track. That will be now the new normality. All drivers will be very aware if you do that, you risk a 5 or 10 second penalty," Wolff added.

The Austrian reflected on the period when Mercedes were racing against Verstappen. "I think back in the day, certain stewards had their opinion and because it wasn't penalised, it basically legitimated it. Fair enough to have a driver who drives within the regs and utilises all the margins that are given to them by stewards," Wolff said without criticising Verstappen.

This article has been created in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen