Wolff: Verstappen F1 wins record “is for Wikipedia”

Verstappen’s Italian GP victory has broken the all-time record for most consecutive F1 wins, while Red Bull also set a new record for most team wins in a row with 15, and while delighted to make further grand prix racing history, the Dutch driver hadn't been focused on the feat. 

Mercedes boss Wolff has also played down the value of the most consecutive wins record while highlighting Verstappen’s indifference to the achievement. 

When quizzed about Mercedes never breaking the most consecutive wins record, Wolff told Sky Sports F1: “Our situation was a little bit different because we had two guys fighting against each other within the team.  

“I don’t know if he cares about the records. It is not something that would be important for me, those numbers, it is for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway.” 

The Red Bull team celebrate a record 10th consecutive victory for Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, after the race

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Reflecting on his own team’s Italian GP, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton each negating five-second penalties to finish fifth and sixth respectively, Wolff felt it was the most Mercedes could expect having failed to match the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari at Monza. 

“Lots of incidents but you need to be careful not to be too happy about a fifth and a sixth. I think we maximised what was in there today,” he said. 

“I think both penalties you can justify so we are going to look at that and how we can prevent it in the future.” 

Before the Italian GP, Wolff also pointed out that Monza highlighted a key weakness of the W14 car in aero efficiency, as the team also struggled in Belgium and Azerbaijan on similar track characteristics, with both Mercedes drivers 10km/h down on their rivals in the speed traps. 

As a result, Wolff is content with Mercedes’ progress and is confident of its form returning in Singapore due to the track layout and car requirements. 

“I think this is like Spa and Baku, I think we are actually getting better on the low-downforce tracks. Spa was worse,” he said.  

“So, Singapore comes towards our direction and there we have got to maximise it.”