Toto Wolff delivers damning McLaren verdict: 'This is humiliation'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes the F1 field was humiliated by McLaren in the final laps of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Towards the end of the Zandvoort race, McLaren was left finding one-handed when Lando Norris retired with a power unit issue.

At the time, Oscar Piastri was equipped with a set of hard tyres while his competitors behind were running the soft compound.

Piastri was nonetheless unchallenged en route to the chequered flag, taking his seventh win of the season.

The Woking-based squad's advantage did not go unnoticed by Wolff.

“You can see at the end the McLaren on the hard tyre versus all of us on the new soft,” Wolff told media including RacingNews365. 

“This is a humiliation for everyone. Now you have the headline!”

George Russell led home the Mercedes duo, taking fourth at the chequered flag. Team-mate Kimi Antonelli crossed the line in sixth but was demoted to outside the points after penalties were applied.

Wolff asserted the team is far from content with its performance at Zandvoort as it continues to endure a difficult run of form.

“We’re in a bit of a difficult situation because how can you be happy with a P4 and maybe a P6 before the penalty [for Antonelli]?” Wolff said.

“That’s really not great. This weekend, between Max, the Ferraris and ourselves, it’s a little bit balanced at the moment.

“Max was the quickest, but Ferrari was just the same, I would say. So that’s not satisfying.”