Toto Wolff was criticized for his disdainful reaction to Max Verstappen's record-breaking 10th consecutive win at Monza, but Nico Rosberg suspects an unhappy mindset was behind his former boss' derisive jibe.
When asked after the Italian Grand Prix for his thoughts on Verstappen's remarkable feat, Wolff dismissed the achievement, insisting it was "irrelevant" and only worthy of a mention in Wikipedia, and "nobody reads that anyway", he added.
The Mercedes F1 team co-owner's remarks came across as sour grapes and unsportsmanlike, with both Sky F1's Martin Brundle and Damon Hill taking aim at Wolff's attitude.
But Rosberg reckons that a relatively poor race by Mercedes at Monza, where George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were never in the running for a podium, had simply put Wolff in a very foul mood before he faced the media.
"Toto got in a moment where he was not too happy about his own race team's performance because they finished fifth and sixth," he told the Sky Sport's podcast.
"Finishing fifth and sixth miles behind Ferrari and Red Bull is not really the goal, so I think he was just a bit down, and that made his answer a bit darker and not quite as gracious as he perhaps normally would be.
"Because I think the right answer would have been: 'Hats off and respect to Max and Red Bull for this achievement."
©RedBull
Ahead of last weekend's round of racing at the Temple of Speed, Verstappen repeatedly played down the importance of setting a new landmark in terms of consecutive wins.
But Rosberg said that the Dutchman's unequivocal gesture when he exited his car after his Monza triumph showed that his record accomplishment was not an insignificant affair.
"We all care about records, and we think a lot about records," Rosberg explained.
"So even Max who always says: 'No, I don't care about [winning] 10 races.But what does he do when he gets out of the car?
"He puts both of his hands up and points to the world that it is 10 wins in a row, and just before he's been saying: 'Oh, no, I don't care about 10 wins. I just want to do a good race weekend.'
"Even Max cares about records."
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