Toto Wolff believes Max Verstappen is the reason why George Russell lost out on pole position for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Q3 at Monza, on Saturday, delivered arguably the most exhilarating top-10 shootout this season.
Fresh from his Monaco podium set-back, Pierre Gasly drove an inspired session at the Temple of Speed to deny Russell pole position by just 0.068s.
The Mercedes driver was favourite to start the race on Sunday from P1, after having topped the final practice session.
But despite an opening run in Q3 good enough for provisional pole, the Briton was unable to improve on his time on his final flying lap.
Wolff pointed the finger at Verstappen, who in the Austrian’s view “compromised” Russell on his out-lap at Parabolica.
“Yeah, I think at the end where he got done over by Max in the final run when launching the lap,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“It was just much too close, and that compromised the lap time eventually and that lost pole position.”
George Russell takes the blame for losing F1 Italian GP pole “in hindsight”
After the Dutch GP, Russell sits in second in the drivers’ championship, trailing his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
With the Italian due for a massive grid drop, on Sunday, Russell had the perfect opportunity to get himself into the best position for clawing back his deficit to Antonelli.
That said, trying to get himself in the tow of Verstappen is what unravelled his pole attempt in hindsight for Russell.
“Everything was all looking fine but then going into Parabolica, Max just slammed on the brakes and didn’t want to be the lead car,” Russell explained.
“In hindsight, it would probably have been better not trying this, but P2 is a good place to start.”
Looking forward to the race on Sunday, Wolff is wary of the threat outlier Gasly poses.
“You always need to take everybody seriously,” Wolff insisted.
“They have a huge amount of straight-line speed. They’ve taken away a lot of drag, and on a single lap, that proved to be what is necessary.
“Race is a completely different ball game, so we shall see.”
As for Antonelli, given the W17’s race pace, Wolff believes hoping for a recovery drive from the 20-year-old into the podium would be “too much to ask”.
“I think it’s too much to ask,” he said. “You can see it becomes so difficult once you get past a certain group of backmarkers, the performances are so close that unless you play a very different strategy and put a bit of a gamble in, I don’t think it’s possible.”
Can Gasly replicate his sensational form in the race, and deliver one of the biggest shocks of 2026 by winning the Italian GP? Only time will tell.
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