F1 News: Toto Wolff sends warning over controversial McLaren decision

Toto Wolff, Belgian GP, 2025, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

Toto Wolff sends warning over controversial McLaren decision

One controversial team decision has left the whole paddock talking

By Kerry Violet.

Tuesday 9 September 2025 21:00

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has given his expert take on McLaren's surprising utilization of team orders at the Italian Grand Prix.

Wolff's Mercedes team had a mediocre weekend themselves, with Kimi Antonelli finishing ninth after picking up a five-second penalty and George Russell ending the race in fifth.

However, it was the action ahead of his team-mate Russell that concerned the paddock, and pretty much everyone who watched the race, in the aftermath of Sunday's finale European event of the season.

Article continues under video

After McLaren star Lando Norris was struck down by. bad luck in the pits, he posted a painfully slow pit-stop time of 5.9 seconds, allowing fellow papaya driver and championship rival Oscar Piastri to undercut him.

McLaren, notorious for their questionable 'papaya rules' instructed Piastri to hand the place back to Norris and as a result, the Aussie racer was forced to finish behind the Brti at the Italian GP.

McLaren lacking 'fierce' championship battle

Speaking after the controversial incident that altered the outcome of Sunday's race, Wolff gave his verdict on McLaren's team orders, pulling from his own experience at managing another close title race.

"There's no right and there's no wrong," Wolff said. "I'm curious to see how that ends out. You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo. What if the team does another mistake? Do you switch them around?

"But then equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up lose the points is not fair either. I think we are going to get our response of whether there was right today towards the end of the season, when it heats up."

"I think if I look at our situations, because I'm not in their shoes of McLaren, back in the day, we had a gap where a constructors' championship is guaranteed, and you just let them race but within the spirit, you race fair and square but don't touch," he continued, reflecting on the fiercely tight battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton almost a decade ago.

"If you touch, then we take control. That's what I would have done in 2016, rather than trying to overmanage with our racing intent.

"We had two different animals in the car in Lewis and Nico. They were two assassins, fierce combatants that took no prisoners, racing against each other. At times, it was very difficult to bench for the team. I don't see that at McLaren."

Mercedes McLaren Formula 1 Toto Wolff