Wolff squarely blames Verstappen for missing out on Italian GP Pole Position

Mercedes appeared to be one of the big favorites for pole position ahead of qualifying. In the end, pole surprisingly went to Alpine's Pierre Gasly. Wolff believes the French team deserved that shock result, but at the same time thinks there was more in it for Mercedes, especially considering how George Russell had performed. "Whoever is on pole obviously deserves it, and I’m very happy for Alpine that they’ve got the car up there. It was a rocket on the straights," Wolff said toViaplay.

"For us, things went a bit against us. Max was very smart, because he ruined the lap. He slowed down massively. Kimi was too close behind Max, and George was also too close behind Max on his lap. That basically cost us pole," says the Mercedes team boss.

Wolff was then asked whether Mercedes could have done anything differently themselves. For example, by anticipating the possibility that Verstappen would back off the pace on the preparation lap and thus create a larger gap to the Red Bull.

"In hindsight, yes," he admits. "But in the end we did our best." According to Wolff, planning the right distance between the cars and the slipstream was quite a task. "More often than not, you get that whole slipstream business wrong. You try to create the optimal gap and then you find out how difficult it is to control. That was absolutely a problem today," he explained.

While Verstappen ensured Mercedes didn’t take pole, Red Bull had completely different concerns. Liam Lawson was also held up by Oscar Piastri at Monza, while also struggling with rear-end balance issues. In that regard, Mercedes seems to be in a much better position. They may, however, be fighting for the win on Sunday with only one driver, as Kimi Antonelli is taking an engine penalty and will start from the back.

It remains to be seen who will line up behind Pierre Gasly and Russell, as Piastri has been called to the stewards for impeding Lawson. As a result, the Kiwi couldn’t improve his time enough to advance to Q3. Verstappen therefore couldn’t fight for pole, as he couldn’t get the tow from his teammate.