Wolff adds fuel to the fire: 'On Saturday, it was Perez in the gravel'

Conspiracy theories swirled after Yuki Tsunoda 's retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix, which some said was staged to help Max Verstappen to victory. Toto Wolff acknowledges in hindsight that Lewis Hamilton probably would not have won the race anyway, but does nothing to dispel the wild theories. Moreover, he adds fuel to the fire by also pointing in the direction of Sergio Perez.

Wolff was a firm believer that Hamilton could have secured his first win of the season had it not been for the virtual safety car. On Saturday, the Mercedes team boss also suggested Hamilton was on course for pole, were it not for Perez's spin. Whereas on Saturday he said Perez was not to blame, the tone has changed slightly since the race.

Wolff points at Perez

Speaking to ORF, Wolff appears to be arguing that if the championship was at stake, Mercedes might not have resigned themselves to it. "The bitterness would be very big if we were racing for a championship. Then of course you think to yourself: on Saturday Perez is in the gravel and on Sunday Tsunoda parks his car outside," says the Mercedes boss.

However, in hindsight he recognises that a victory may have been too much to hope for. "Without the virtual safety car we might have had a fifty per cent chance, because Max would have come out just under ten seconds behind us. Would we have won? Probably not," Wolff admitted.

The suggestion that the dropout was at the behest of Red Bull Racing is remarkable, as Verstappen started the race at Zandvoort with the biggest lead he has had throughout the 2022 Formula One season. If there was a conspiracy at all, the team might have had more of it earlier in the year.