Miami GP: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff slams Red Bull for ‘total lack of judgement’ that caused Max Verstappen-Kimi Antonelli collision

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has criticised Red Bull for showing “a total lack of judgement” in causing a dangerous pit-lane collision between Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen during the Miami Grand Prix Sprint.

Verstappen and Antonelli were running in third and fourth, respectively, when they both pitted at the end of lap 12 to swap their intermediate tyres for slicks on the drying circuit.

With Verstappen running several seconds ahead of Antonelli on track, the Iatter was approaching his Mercedes pit box, which sits directly in front of Red Bull’s, as the former’s stop was coming to an end.

Red Bull released Verstappen just as Antonelli was turning to come into his stop, causing the cars to make brief contact, before Antonelli showed superb reactions and judgement to turn back out into the pit lane and avoid a potentially nasty collision with his waiting pit crew.

Verstappen, who was personally not at fault for the incident, received a 10-second penalty which demoted him out of a points-scoring positions, while Antonelli had to pit again a lap later and also finished outside of the points.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted to Sky Sports F1 after the race that the unsafe release was a result of “human error”, but Wolff was left very unhappy.

“If it was the main race it would be seriously annoying,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“I was surprised by the total lack of judgement because it wasn’t even close to releasing without any security concerns.

“Somebody panicked there.”

Verstappen: We need to investigate error

The incident is the latest in a series of Red Bull pit-stop errors during the early stages of the season, with Verstappen having been hampered by a slow stop in Japan and a release-system issue in Bahrain.

The pit stop struggles are hugely uncharacteristic for Red Bull, who have long been considered the grid’s best in this department, winning the fastest pit stop award for the last seven years.

Verstappen said that the incidents were not related, but an investigation into the latest error is needed.

“They have all been different incidents [this year],” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1. “You can’t compare these things.

“We all don’t want that to happen but it happened. It’s something we need to investigate but I’m just happy no one got injured. With these cars if you hit someone, it’s not great.

“It’s super clear what happened, so there’s not much more for me to add.”

The incidents have followed the departure from Red Bull of former sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who had overseen their pit lane operations before leaving to become Sauber team principal.

Former world champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jenson Button believes it is taking Red Bull “too long” to adjust to Wheatley’s exit.

Button said: “It’s such a high-pressure situation. You can practice it all you want, but it’s the live pit stops where there’s so much pressure. If you lose two or three tenths that could be losing a victory. They are all under massive pressure.

“Jonathan Wheatley has been around forever. He is just set in his ways and does exactly the same every race. For someone trying to fill his shoes, it’s like filling a driver’s shoes in a new team, it takes time to adapt but it’s taking a little too long.”

Antonelli ‘annoyed’ about Piastri’s first corner move

Antonelli made history by becoming the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history but lost the lead almost straight away to Piastri.

The pair went into the first corner side by side with Piastri on the inside and Antonelli claiming he was “pushed off” as he went wide and dropped to fourth.

“A bit annoyed about lap one, with how it went,” Antonelli told Sky Sports F1.

“It seems like it’s like this, that you can do basically whatever you want. So it’s good to know for the future.

“Definitely it’s a shame but luckily we have a qualifying to bounce back.”

Piastri, who also snatched the lead last time out in Saudi Arabia from Verstappen into Turn 1, feels he did nothing wrong.

He said: “I had a really good start. Obviously, got alongside, and I think we probably both braked a little bit later than we should have.

“There was a bit of contact, but I pulled it up still pretty comfortably. With that move, it would have won me the sprint if there was no Safety Car, so it was a good first lap.”

Wolff: We are not setting a good precedent

Piastri’s move on Verstappen in Saudi Arabia and now his overtake on Piastri in the Miami Sprint has shed light on racecraft in F1.

After controversial incidents between Verstappen and Lando Norris when last year’s title race was heating up, the F1 Driving Standards Guidelines were updated ahead of this season.

The new rules effectively allow the driver on the inside line to run their rival wide, as long as they stay within track limits themselves, thus not having to leave space on the outside, which Mercedes boss Wolff thinks is incorrect.

“We are not setting a good precedent. You just release the brake and push the other guy off,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“You need to leave a car’s space but it’s creeped in that in Turn 1, he pushed him out.

“It’s Kimi’s sixth race and he’s learned the lesson this is what you need to do. I don’t entirely agree with that but that’s how we’ve allowed it for a few years now.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “I think there are relatively clear guidelines and also the interpretation of the stewards that we not only trust, but also rely on in terms of setting the standards, so that’s the standards for everyone.

“If you look at Oscar’s position approaching corner one, Oscar staying on track all the way, I think that belongs to the category of clean manoeuvres.”