Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen F1 title race could be decided by non-accidental crash, says Mercedes' Toto Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff thinks a non-accidental crash could decide the Formula One title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen if it goes to the wire.

Red Bull’s Verstappen currently holds a 12-point lead over Mercedes’ Hamilton with five races of the 2021 campaign remaining.

The pair have already been involved in two high-profile collisions this season at Silverstone and Monza, and if they do crash again it would not be the first time that a championship has been decided in that fashion.

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost hit each other twice in their title-defining battles while Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve famously collided in Spain to decide the 1997 championship.

“If it was to come to the scenario of the last race in Abu Dhabi, and they were to be racing each other for the title, whoever is in front is absolutely going to try to do the same as in the Senna-Prost years,” Wolff told the Daily Mail.

“What happened in Monza? Verstappen took Lewis out because he was about to overtake and he was quicker. And that is totally understandable.

“If you are racing for the championship and you see it fading away because the other guy is overtaking you, what tool have you got other than the one that makes sure he can’t overtake?

“That is what makes this sport so interesting, because it is ingrained in our nature that we don’t like confrontation and then one is intrigued to see how that relationship unfolds.”

The next stop on the F1 circuit is this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

Ahead of the race Wolff has also revealed how he used to “bite back” at Hamilton, but that they have now moved far past that stage.

“This is Mercedes. We have no place for the genius jerk. Even a superstar driver has to respect team values. But with Lewis, we've been eight years together now. He's not an arrogant, spoiled little kid. He's a mature racer who has won seven titles, six with us, so we can take those moments, it's part of our role to be a trash bin for the driver sometimes.

“In the car, you can get very frustrated and emotional. You are racing at 200mph, in the rain, you have no idea about the overall picture of the race and decisions are being made that you cannot understand. In the early years I would bite back at Lewis.

“He was very young and I had to make the point that I wouldn't allow the driver to bad-mouth the team. But we've moved on from there a long time. Still, I wouldn't hesitate in the future if a driver talked bad about the team or wasn't appropriate, I would first deal with it internally and if that didn't yield results I would take the driver out of the car. On the bench, yes.

“I don't think that would ever be Lewis. He's a team member, not a contractor, a driver that comes and goes. We've been together since 2013. We know each other so well, there's so much trust and respect. I was close to putting a driver on the bench when it was Lewis and [Nico] Rosberg. Twice. In 2014 and 2016. I said I would judge over 48 hours whether one needed to sit out. I still don't know who it would have been. But that was long ago. It is unimaginable given the relationship I have with Lewis today that it could happen now.”