Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has criticised Christian Horner’s unsportsmanlike behaviour after 2021’s tense world title decider.
At the very end of a gripping Drivers’ Championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the title was settled on the last lap of the final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi following a controversial call from FIA race director Michael Masi.
Verstappen dramatically passed Hamilton to clinch his first global crown, and he has gone on to add three more to his collection in consecutive years. Wolff and Red Bull team principal Horner had exchanged frosty words throughout the season, and the Silver Arrows chief feels that his rival could have been more gracious in victory.
He did, however, spare long-term driver target Max Verstappen from his criticism. Wolff told the Armchair Expert podcast: “I felt that the other side – and that’s not Max – there was not one sentence saying, ‘That was a difficult day for Mercedes, we acknowledge it, they’re both deserving champions and today it went against Mercedes,’.
“There was not one word from Christian or the other team [members] in acknowledging that. It was entitlement. We would have said it.”
In an infamous radio message on the final lap of the race, Wolff was heard shouting to Masi: “That was so not right!” But Hamilton endeared himself to F1 fans in the immediate aftermath of his bitter and contentious defeat, which denied him a record-breaking eighth title, by shaking Verstappen’s hand and offering his congratulations.
Wolff believes the situation could have been remedied by splitting the Championship between the drivers. “Both were deserving champions because of the ups and downs of the season,” he said.
“Probably both should have been world champions. Max was the stronger driver in the first half, Lewis was stronger in the second half. It was the same with the cars, both of them should have had the trophy. But in that race, on that day, the race was decided and it fell the other way.
“The referee decided to do something that was not in the rulebook – not just a judgement call, but just not in the rulebook. It was the madness of it, and the chaos.”
Mercedes had salt rubbed into their wounds months after the dramatic Abu Dhabi finale, when a full investigation into Masi’s handling of the race led to his dismissal. Hamilton is yet to win his eighth title, and he will begin next season at Ferrari after calling time on his spell with the Silver Arrows.
