Wolff concedes title to Verstappen

Toto Wolff thinks Max Verstappoen has already got the 2024 F1 title sown up.

“No-one is going to catch Max this year,” the Austrian declared. “His driving and the car are just spectacular. You can see the way he manages the tyres and basically this season now is best of the rest. If I was to look from a pure sporting point of view it is P1 what matters, not P2, P3 or P4 but this is the reality that we are facing at the moment.

“We’re trying to do the best out of this new reality and that is to beat our competitors whilst acknowledging that somebody is just doing a better job and setting the benchmark that we eventually need to set ourselves again.”

Lewis Hamilton could do nothing but laugh off Mercedes’ struggles as he and George Russell scraped into the top 10.

Red Bull reasserted their dominance in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez locking out the front row ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Lewis Hamilton could do nothing but laugh off Mercedes’ struggles as he and George Russell scraped into the top 10. The seven-time world champion is looking for his first Grand Prix win since 2021 in his final season with the Silver Arrows before joining Ferrari.

A game of F1 musical chairs is already developing as Mercedes look to fill Hamilton’s seat ahead of next year and Sainz scours the market for his next opportunity. There is also uncertainty at Red Bull, where Perez’s contract is soon to expire and Verstappen has been linked with a move elsewhere.