Toto Wolff keeps his cool after Mercedes F1 upset: 'AI could have told you that'

An edited photo of Andrea Stella looking serious and Toto Wolff grinning on a background of a McLaren in the pits — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 2026

Toto Wolff keeps his cool after Mercedes F1 upset: 'AI could have told you that'

Wolff is trying his best to appear unfazed by a recent loss to a Mercedes rival

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Tuesday 4 August 2026 09:44

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Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has swatted away any suggestions the Silver Arrows are concerned about McLaren's victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix with Lando Norris.

The reigning champion has been far off the front row for most of the 2026 campaign, and though he has maintained the papaya F1 squad will not give up the fight in either championship until the very end of the season, their hopes of further title success looked slim up until the race at the Hungaroring last time out.

Just last month the 26-year-old seemed to be at odds with his machinery, saying McLaren were simply too slow to catch frontrunners Mercedes by describing his team's situation in perhaps the most British way possible when he admitted: "Yeah, we're in a pickle." But Hungary proved Norris has turned over a new leaf in 2026, and even if McLaren themselves aren't expecting to be fighting for wins at every remaining race weekend on the calendar, their star driver appears more confident than ever.

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After becoming the only non-Mercedes driver to claim pole position this year ahead of the Hungarian GP, Norris converted that into McLaren's third consecutive victory at the track.

Following his first win as defending champion, Norris put the ball in Mercedes' court by declaring: "The pressure is on him [championship leader Kimi Antonelli] for sure. There's no pressure on me. I've been feeling very confident." F1 HEADLINES: Verstappen to Aston Martin, Mercedes cost cap fears and Sky F1's uncertain future

Wolff: McLaren Hungarian GP win was predictable

Heading into this year's summer shutdown, Norris has jumped up to P5 in the drivers' standings, only 10 points behind fourth-placed Charles Leclerc, albeit 91 points away from Antonelli's total.

Mercedes were the clear favourites for both titles at the start of the season after George Russell and Antonelli picked up every grand prix win across the opening six rounds between them.

In recent races however the Mercedes duo have been challenged, but their team principal Wolff maintains he isn't the slightest bit concerned, shrugging off McLaren's form by saying that even AI could have predicted their win.

"When you ask the artificial intelligence who are the favourite in Budapest, the artificial intelligence is going to say McLaren," said the Austrian when asked about Norris' victory after the race.

"They were the dominant team here in the last few years, I think it was one and two and something like this last year. So, definitely one of the good tracks for them, not very good for us."

Wolff's team still lead the constructors' standings by quite some way, and something would have to go seriously wrong for the squad to be overtaken by one of their customer teams in the shape of McLaren even with half a season still to go.

The 54-year-old then issued a warning to those who may take the recent win for Andrea Stella's squad as a sign of a major step forward, adding: "We need to be careful not to swing from everyone is suddenly competitive to a team is suddenly not competitive.

"I think they've definitely done a step, they are in the fight, we haven't brought an upgrade for some time, and you can see that this is going to be a development fight also going forward."

F1 Mercedes McLaren Toto Wolff