Wolff Agrees With 20-Second Penalty For Verstappen: 'Experiencing Deja Vu'
F1Wednesday, 30 October 2024 at 20:00
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff agreed with the 20-second penalty for Max Verstappen as he suggested it sets "the right precedent."
Max Verstappen received a total of 20 seconds in two penalties (2 x 10 seconds) after incidents with Lando Norris that took place on lap 10, shortly after the safety car restart.
After serving this penalty, the Dutchman fell far down the order. From that point on, it was a recovery race for him, and ultimately, he finished in P6.
Many pundits, experts, and former F1 drivers shared their opinions on the penalties after the Grand Prix. On the one hand, some, like Giedo van der Garde, said these two penalties were too harsh.
On the other hand, Martin Brundle, for example, felt that Verstappen was lucky to get away without a drive-through penalty (which would have been much worse) for the second incident.
Speaking to the OE24 after the Grand Prix, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff suggested he was experiencing déjà vu as the incident between Verstappen and Norris reminded him of the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix.
"I am experiencing déjà vu. Only in this case, it's not about us, but it is about Norris although the animosity between Norris and Verstappen is not as great as that between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen in 2021."
Wolff believes that the two ten-second penalties were ultimately the right decision if the stewards plan to enforce a different driving style for the future.
"I think it was a good decision by the stewards, and it becomes clear that this hard-driving style is not allowed in the future. A 20-second penalty is the right precedent to make sure it doesn't happen in the future,"
On the other hand, the team principal of Mercedes did point out that the hard battles we witnessed in the last two Grand Prix races are good for the show and, therefore, the business of F1.
"It's great for the show. We all benefit from it, including me as co-owner of Mercedes."
"If the show is good, business is good. There was something for everyone in Mexico: the performance of Carlos Sainz, the underperformance of Charles Leclerc, the misperformance of [Sergio] Perez."
"There were accidents with polarisation, our drivers as rock-hard racers, but our first priority is to win."
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