Wolff contacted Verstappen to explain Wikipedia statement

Toto Wolff has contacted Max Verstappen to explain his much-discussed Wikipedia statements. The Mercedes team boss stressed that his comment belongs in a certain context and that he does respect such records.

When Verstappen took his tenth Formula 1 victory in a row at the Italian Grand Prix, he broke the record, which until then was held by Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes team boss caused a stir by stating that records did not interest him that much and that they were "only interesting for Wikipedia, which nobody reads anyway".

Wolff soon realised that he might not have been better off making that statement, as he was frequently asked about it two weeks later in Singapore. Even then, the 51-year-old Austrian acknowledged that he has made more intelligent statements before, but now he also reveals that he contacted the three-time world champion that same weekend.

"I sent Max a message to explain and he was OK with it," Wolff said in conversation with De Telegraaf. "If you don't know the context, it seems like I don't recognise such a great record. But the point was that Niki Lauda used to always laugh at records with us. He called it a relic of the past and always looked forward. That's the story behind it, but it wasn't the most intelligent thing I ever said."