Wolff concedes Wikipedia comments about Verstappen "not the most intelligent"

Verstappen bagged his 10th consecutive grand prix victory last time out at Monza to surpass the nine-race win record jointly held by Red Bull predecessor Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari.

Red Bull also made history, beating Mercedes to become the first team to take 15 victories in a row.

But Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff played down the significance of his rival's achievements in Italy, telling Sky Sports F1: "Our situation was a little bit different because we had two guys [Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg] fighting against each other within the team.

"I don't know if [Verstappen] cares about the records. It is not something that would be important for me, those numbers.

"It is for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway."

Wolff has now admitted that perhaps he was wrong to be so punchy, but he was channelling the mindset of former Mercedes GP non-executive chair and triple F1 champion, the late Niki Lauda.

The Austrian said, upon reflection, his Wikipedia comments were "maybe not" the smartest thing to say, and they were more representative of his lack of sentimentality for numbers.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes

Photo by: Erik Junius

"Well, obviously, when you look at the comments, in the circumstances you can think 'Was it the most intelligent thing that I could have said' and maybe not." reckoned Wolff.

"But it's always been my mindset and something that I've taken from Niki. Niki gave his trophies away to get a free car wash.

"You won't find a lot of memorabilia in my places either because those numbers never mattered for the two of us.

Wolff added that even if statistic did not matter to him, Red Bull should still be recognised for doing a "great job" that will reward the team with the "most valuable" prize - the constructors' championship.

He added: "Formula 1 is a meritocracy. And I said it often during this year that only the best will win world championships and you need to recognise what a great job is being done there.

"And at the end, they will take another big trophy and that is something that's the most valuable. The best person in the best car wins the world championship."