Toto Wolff called Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase “brainless” after Lambiase suggested Kimi Antonelli had deliberately let Lando Norris past in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris had been trying to overtake Antonelli but appeared to fall short until the Mercedes driver ran wide at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap, allowing the McLaren to take fourth and two extra points. The move means Norris leads Verstappen by 12 points going into the season finale in Abu Dhabi, with team-mate Oscar Piastri a further four points back in third.
Frustrated that Verstappen’s gains on Norris were reduced, Lambiase told Verstappen over the radio that it looked like Antonelli had “just pulled over and let Norris through.” Wolff said Lambiase later apologised but was strongly critical of the remark.
“This is total utter nonsense. That blows my mind even to hear that,” Wolff said after the race. “We are fighting for P2 in the (Constructors’) Championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3 (race finish). How brainless can you be to even say something like this? It annoys me because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went. I’m annoyed with the mistake at the end. I’m annoyed with other mistakes, and then hearing such nonsense blows my mind.”
Wolff revealed he had spoken to Lambiase after the race and that the long-time Red Bull figure was emotional and apologetic. “I spoke to GP (Lambiase). I saw him, and obviously he was emotional in that moment, because they needed a P3, I guess, to help win the championship, now they need more. I said to him, ‘he just went off’. He had a bit of a moment in the previous corner, and then had less entry speed into that left-hander, put the gas down, and at that moment, that can happen, then lost the position. So with GP, everything is clear. We cleared the air. He said ‘he didn’t see the situation’. I said to GP that there’s quite a social media storm. He said, ‘sorry if I caused that, I didn’t see the incident’.”
Antonelli described the incident as a “massive moment” that cost him the chance at a podium. Chasing Carlos Sainz for third, he said tyre overheating and dirty air made following difficult. “With the hard (tyre), I was pushing quite a lot to get close to Carlos. Eventually I was in DRS, or very close, but into Turn 9 I went in a bit quicker and had a massive moment. A bit unexpected but just lost the rear and went off track. Just need to look why the mistake arrived and what I did different. I went in quicker but not massively different. A shame to lose the place because it would have been two more points.”
The 2025 F1 season concludes with the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1.