Italian Grand Prix F1: Toto Wolff Warns McLaren About Setting Complicated Precedents

Toto Wolff has warned McLaren about setting precedents that are “very difficult to undo” after the Italian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris was driving along in second, one place ahead of team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri, before a mistake from his pit crew saw him drop behind the championship leader.

McLaren instructed Piastri to give the position back to Norris, allowing Max Verstappen to cruise to victory at Monza despite a shaky start.

Wolff, who oversaw multiple championship battles between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, believes McLaren must proceed with caution when making such decisions.

“There is no right and there is no wrong,” said Wolff. “And I'm curious to see how that ends up.

“You set a precedent that is very difficult to undo. What if the team does another mistake and it's not a pit stop, do you switch them around?

“But then equally, because of a team mistake, making a driver that is trying to catch up, lose the points, is not fair either.

“So I think we are going to get our response of whether that was right today towards the end of the season when it heats up.”

Meanwhile, at Mercedes, it was another tough race for 19-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli.

He finished ninth in the Italian Grand Prix after receiving penalties for exceeding track limits on multiple occasions and running Williams’ Alex Albon off the circuit.

Wolff insisted he continue to support the teenager despite another disappointing weekend.

“Underwhelming this weekend. Underwhelming,” said Wolff.

“You can't put the car in the gravel bed and expect to be there. All of the race was underwhelming.

“It doesn't change anything on my support and confidence in his future because I believe he's going to be very, very, very good. But today was… underwhelming.”