Wolff praises Verstappen: ‘Going off but not DNF-ing is a skill'

Verstappen stormed to his fourth victory of F1 2023, beating Fernando Alonso by over 20 seconds in difficult conditions.

It wasn’t an entirely straightforward weekend for Verstappen, who brushed the wall on a number of occasions.

Verstappen’s latest triumph means Red Bull have won all six races so far this year, building up a commanding lead in both championships.

Speaking after Sunday’s Monaco GP, Wolff reiterated his view that F1 shouldn’t try to deliberately reign in Red Bull, while praising Verstappen for his display.

“If we start putting in a balance of performance we will ruin this sport,” he said. “This is a meritocracy, best driver in the best car, spending the same amount of money, win the championship and if you break the rules in either you should be heavily penalised but only then – but not for doing a good job.”

“When you win in Formula 1 it is a meritocracy and they [Red Bull] have just done a good job.

“The car is fast in all conditions, the driver is at the top of his game, even today going off at times but not dnf-ing is a skill. You can see that he pushed, so all credit to them.”

Mercedes introduced a significant upgrade package in Monaco, although the true gains from it are still unclear.

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth ahead of George Russell in fifth.

“We just need to do a better job, we need to catch up, find intelligent solutions,” he added. “Hope that our learning slope, development slope is steeper than theirs and eventually fight for this again.

“Because it is a meritocracy it is what it is. It’s sport, whether it is good for the show or not? 

“Obviously a strong fight between ten drivers or at least two, is much better for all of us but it is not happening that is why you have to just accept that and work to get back there.”