When the 2025 F1 season started, the Mercedes team seemed fuzzy. George Russell secured back-to-back podiums in Australia and China and trailed the championship leader. It led Mercedes principal, Toto Wolff, to say, “He’s one of the top drivers out there.”However, the end of the F1 season is giving the team reasons for unrest.

The Formula 1 grid visited Qatar over the past weekend, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen securing the victory. The four-time F1 World Champion is trailing McLaren’s Lando Norris in the championship. And that is why a curious incident led Red Bull to point fingers at Mercedes – with Toto Wolff furiously hitting back.

Toto Wolff rubbishes claims of manipulation

During the Qatar Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli slid his rear tires and drifted off the track on Turn 10. This allowed Lando Norris to fetch a 4th-place finish and two crucial championship points. And Helmut Marko, Red Bull advisor, called Antonelli’s slip-up intentional. “How brainless can you be to even say something like this?” Toto Wolff responded. “Bless him, Helmut. This is total, utter nonsense that blows my mind even to hear that. We’re fighting for P2 in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi’s fighting for a potential P3.”

With his finish, Lando Norris heads to Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead over Max Verstappen instead of 10. That is why Marko was upset, as Antonelli apparently did not defend another McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri, either. Verstappen’s engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, also blamed Antonelli. However, Toto Wolff confessed that he had settled things with him. “He didn’t see the situation that Kimi lost it when he went on the gas. We lost valuable points for our Constructors’ World Championship, so I was as annoyed as him, and we completely cleared the air between each other. There is no issue.”

Nevertheless, Toto Wolff has reasons for anxiety within his team as well. Antonelli and George Russell finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with Russell having been stuck in traffic after losing three positions at the start. Wolff lamented, “Not a great result overall. I’m not happy. Now we tried to secure P2 in the World Championship here, but we didn’t. Just too many mistakes. And you can see that the car had the pace. The moment George was in free air, he went a second quicker. And it’s a shame.”

Currently, Mercedes has a lot on their plate, like improving results and reputation. However, Toto Wolff remains committed to his team.

Wolff brushes off whispers of change

There has been recent speculation about Toto Wolff scaling down his involvement in Mercedes. The rumors swirled around Wolff planning to make an exit from the championship. However, the team principal clarified matters after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where George Russell and Kimi Antonelli secured P3 and P5. “Yeah, I have no plan to sell the team or no plan to leave my role,” he said. “I’m actually in a good space, and I’m enjoying it. And as long as I feel I’m contributing and others feel that I’m contributing, there’s no reason to think in that direction.”

Yet Toto Wolff had sold a 15% stake in his holding company to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz. The stake sale valued the Mercedes F1 team at £4.6billion. But the Mercedes head explained his actions: “What I did is in my investment holding, I sold some shares to George, who is a racer, who is a tech entrepreneur, who is someone that is going to help us leverage the US market. That was the reason behind it, but nothing else.”

Clearly, Toto Wolff has many tasks ahead for his team. With the F1 finale at Abu Dhabi just around the corner, let’s wait and see what role Mercedes plays next.