Toto Wolff slams Mercedes' "useless race" after losing out to Lewis Hamilton

While Wolff was happy for Hamilton and Ferrari, the Mercedes boss was bitter about how the Barcelona Grand Prix unfolded for his team

Lewis Hamilton's first Formula 1 victory for Ferrari, even before the Briton had crossed the finish line at the Barcelona Grand Prix, quickly captivated spectators and observers, temporarily pushing Mercedes' internal fight and Kimi Antonelli's retirement into the background.

But these two race incidents, important in the story of the 2026 season, were very much on the mind of Toto Wolff, the principal at the German team. The race saw Mercedes experience its first setback of the season on Sunday, along with its championship leader scoring no points for the first time his year.

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Before analysing his own team, Wolff wanted to congratulate his rivals. Hamilton's success had been built, in part, on an aggressive three-stop strategy from Ferrari, before a well-timed virtual safety car further strengthened his advantage over Mercedes.

"First of all, I'm happy for Lewis," Wolff told Canal+ in French. "He's wanted to win in a Ferrari for a long time, he worked hard, and I'm very happy for Fred [Vasseur]. Fred is a friend; sometimes we get annoyed with each other, but today he deserves it.

"It was so difficult, with so much pressure in Italy at Ferrari, and for him to take the victory today, fair and square – Lewis had excellent pace, he deserves to win – and for that, we must first congratulate them."

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Toto Wolff, Mercedes

Photo by: Anni Graf - Formula 1 via Getty Images

But then came the time to examine Mercedes' race. Before Antonelli's retirement, which came just after he had overtaken George Russell in the closing laps, the race had already been marked by further episodes of team-mate infighting. The accumulation of lost time and reliability issues, only weeks after Russell retired while leading in Canada, led Wolff to a harsh conclusion.

"It was a useless race for us,” he continued. “First of all, we can't keep having retirements all the time. You don't win championships if your cars keep stopping. And secondly, while we've always tried to be fair between the two drivers, now there's a third driver, with Lewis fighting for the world championship. We need to pay attention."

Hamilton's victory, after he had already inherited second place in Monaco following Russell's troubles, combined with Antonelli's failure to score, reduced the gap between them from 66 points to 41.

Team orders because of the Hamilton threat?

These strong comments from Wolff naturally raise the question of how the team will translate this into action on track. Is he considering imposing team orders?

"I'm not sure,” he told the French broadcaster. “We need to discuss it with the drivers, because if you give team orders, you can't keep changing them every race.

"But normally, if one driver has such a speed advantage – and there's a risk of losing a race – then maybe we need to think about it."