Toto Wolff accused of disrespecting Lewis Hamilton despite playing down comments

Toto Wolff disrespected Lewis Hamilton by telling the Brit to stop moaning and ‘just drive’ at the Austrian Grand Prix, according to former Williams team manager Peter Windsor. The remark was made by Wolff in response to Hamilton complaining about his lack of pace at the Red Bull Ring while also calling for other drivers to be punished for exceeding track limits after receiving a penalty of his own.

It seemed as though Wolff grew slightly annoyed with Hamilton’s constant complaints during the latter stages of the race, with the Austrian eventually snapping: “Lewis, the car is bad, we know. Please drive it.” Windsor has since criticised Wolff’s tone of voice while addressing Hamilton mid-race, with his radio message being perceived as disrespectful to a driver who has won it all in F1.

Windsor said on YouTube: “There was a comment from Toto Wolff two-thirds of the way through the race which, for me, left a little bit of a bad taste in the mouth because it was Lewis again going on about track limits.

“I just thought wow, for all the song and dance about the [upgrades] and how improvements are there and they’re moving forward and the setup and getting the tyres in the right window. To speak to Lewis like that, ‘get on and race’. This guy is a seven-time world champion, he does deserve a little bit more respect than that, I think.”

It comes after Wolff played down the impact of his tetchy radio exchange with Hamilton by insisting that there was no malicious intent behind his comments, with the Mercedes chief simply having grown frustrated about their lack of performance in Austria compared to their pre-race expectations.

“You should hear us talking on the phone and meeting each other, that was nothing,” he explained. “We have had a bad weekend, all of us in the team, and that just makes us stronger. It was only for the best interest of the driver and the team.

“Sometimes there is a certain moment when you need to calm things down but I meant well. We had a lot of discussion about track limits and whether they were enforced or not. I wanted to make sure we were getting the best out of the package that wasn’t performing, and trying to give it our best shot.”

Hamilton went on to slump to a seventh-placed finish at the Red Bull Ring after being handed a five-second time penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits earlier in the race. He was subsequently dropped to eighth after being found guilty of more offences than initially noted, with the Brit joining seven other drivers in receiving further penalties after the chequered flag.

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