Wolff smashes Mercedes computer screen as Russell denied Italian GP Pole Position

Never shy of showing his emotions in the Mercedes garage, the Silver Arrows' social media team captured Wolff's immediate reaction to Gasly's lap - with the Frenchman lapping just 0.060s quicker than Russell in Q3.

Banging his hand against his desk initially, Wolff then let his frustrations out on his computer screen before quickly correcting its angle. Mercedes' social media team were quick to tease the Austrian once emotions had cooled in Monza.

Asked if the screen was broken at all, Wolff replied: "It's okay. I just cared so much for George to be on Pole. He was the quickest car out there and then we got obviously compromised on the last lap, so yeah, that was annoying."

The last lap issue Wolff was referencing related to Max Verstappen's efforts to get a tow from Kimi Antonelli instead of Russell in Q3 - the Dutchman could not rely on teammate Liam Lawson following his earlier Q2 elimination - and so, much to Mercedes' frustration, contributed to what Russell lamented as a "messy" end to Qualifying.

Wolff was nonetheless pleased for Alpine after a historic Pole Position - the Enstone team's first in F1 since Fernando Alonso's result for Renault at the Hungarian GP in 2009.

"Yeah, happy. I think I am happy for Alpine. We played a little part in there and them being on Pole is something different, and they've done a good job," Wolff concluded.

Speaking to media, including GPblog, Russell could not hide his frustration with Verstappen over the Q3 incident, explaining the Dutchman "slammed on the brakes" at Parabolica to get behind Antonelli, but crucially, ahead of the Briton.

Reflecting on where he lost the time to Gasly, Russell said: "Yeah, I mean it was a very scrappy session. The car didn't feel quite as good with the car as it did in FP3. I was struggling with locking up, and then come Q3 we had a bit of a mess with Verstappen, entering the lap. He wanted to go for the tow, Kimi was there as well and I did my lap a second and a half behind Max, which wasn't ideal."

Russell added: "Everything was all looking fine, but then going into Parabolica, Max just slammed on the brakes and he didn't want to be the lead car. So it's just one of those things, you know, you can't control what other people do."