Toto Wolff thinks Max Verstappen would ‘never’ support Red Bull’s ‘embarrassing’ decision in Canada

Toto Wolff has now added to the war of words between Mercedes and Red Bull, after George Russell beat Max Verstappen to win the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Montreal saw Russell get his first pole position and win of the 2025 F1 season last weekend, as the Briton’s rookie Mercedes teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli even took the Italian’s first podium in Formula 1. Verstappen split the Silver Arrows to claim his fifth podium of the year.

But the FIA would not declare the confirmed final classification until five hours after the race after Red Bull protested Russell’s Canadian GP win. The Milton Keynes outfit alleged that the 27-year-old drove erratically behind the safety car and displayed unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Red Bull saw their protest thrown out, though, as the FIA accepted Russell’s explanation that he braked heavily behind the safety car to preserve his temperatures and that the Mercedes driver was not unsporting to merely point out over the radio that Verstappen overtook him.

Toto Wolff thinks Max Verstappen would ‘never’ back Red Bull protesting George Russell’s Canadian GP win

Red Bull felt Russell had intentionally brake-checked Verstappen after the Briton checked his mirror before reporting the Dutchman overtook behind the safety car. Yet the protest failed, and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff thinks Verstappen would ‘never’ have supported it.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 CEO and team principal Toto Wolff

The Mercedes chief is ‘100%’ convinced that Red Bull protested Russell’s Canadian GP win without Verstappen’s support. Wolff cannot even understand what his counterpart Christian Horner saw after stating Russell ‘obviously’ tried to trick Verstappen into a potential penalty.

Wolff told Sky Sports News (17/6, 07:08): “It took Red Bull two hours before they lodged the protest. Honestly, it’s so petty and so small. They’ve done it in Miami. Now, they lodged two protests and took one back because it was ridiculous.

“They came up with some weird clause, some unsporting clause. I guess the FIA needs to look at that because it was so far-fetched it was rejected. You go racing, you win and you lose on the track. That was a fair victory for us, and it’s just embarrassing.

“They actually pulled part of a protest because it was nonsense. And the second one took us five hours because I don’t even know what they referred to as unsportsmanlike behaviour.

“What’s it all about? Who decides that? Because I’m 100% sure it’s not Max, he would never go for a protest on such a trivial thing.”

Red Bull threw stones in a glasshouse by claiming Russell was unsporting reporting Verstappen’s rule breach in Canada

Rival teams could play Red Bull at their own game if it were not for them needing to pay the FIA €2,000 (£1.7k) per protest, as Verstappen’s radio messages are frequently played out on the world feed showing the 27-year-old calling out other drivers for potential rule breaches.

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Verstappen’s record in that regard is one of the major reasons why Red Bull’s protest was, to use Wolff’s words, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘embarrassing’. Surely, Horner et al never thought Russell would receive a penalty for being unsporting for doing what Verstappen does in most races?

Red Bull have also benefited in the past from Verstappen throwing his rivals under a bus for rule breaches. Verstappen earned Lando Norris a penalty in the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix as he dobbed him in over failing to slow under yellow flags, drawing a 10-second stop/go penalty.

It is unlikely to be the end of Red Bull and Mercedes’ war of words, though, as Russell drew Horner’s eye at the 2025 Canadian GP for pointing out that Verstappen is one penalty point away from a race ban. He remains one penalty point from a ban ahead of the Austrian GP.