“Lewis hasn’t moved on yet”, Toto Wolff returns to one of the most debated moments of recent years
Toto Wolff has once again spoken about what happened at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: from the difficulty of accepting it, to Lewis Hamilton’s reaction, and the role of Christian Horner. While fans wait to see how the current three-way fight between Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will unfold, the 2021 edition remains one of the most controversial Abu Dhabi races ever, marked by the disappointment of Wolff and Hamilton and the celebrations of Horner and Red Bull. The final laps generated widespread polemics due to Michael Masi’s decision to prioritize a spectacular showdown, even at the cost of applying the rules in a questionable way.
In particular, at the end of the Safety Car period, the race director chose to let only the lapped cars between the two title contenders un-lap themselves. The clear aim was to deliver a fireworks-style finale to one of the most dramatic championships in recent memory.
Toto Wolff’s account years later
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Toto Wolff revisited that episode. “I haven’t moved on yet. And neither has Lewis. We both think about it every day, we talked about it recently. Both he and Max deserved the championship but the ‘referee’ made a mistake and there’s nothing we can do about it,” the Mercedes Team Principal said.
The head of the Silver Arrows also spoke about his conversations with Christian Horner on the matter. “He was never able to admit the mistake. I try to look at things from the other side. From their point of view, they felt they deserved to be world champions. They had suffered some unfair incidents throughout the season and the result of that race was, in their eyes, a faithful representation of the performance levels they had shown all year.”
“But Christian has never been able to admit the same thing — that if the roles had been reversed and it had happened to them that day, it would have been catastrophic and he would have thrown out every possible insult. And I think the ability to be introspective or to see the other side with a bit of compassion is completely absent in his personality. It’s the sense of entitlement he has. And in the end it backfired on him, because he felt entitled to have all the power, and Red Bull didn’t want to give him that power,” Wolff explained.
Four years later, that night still seems to remain an open wound for those who feel they were wronged. And it is likely the reason why Lewis Hamilton, now past the age of forty, is still driven by the desire to get back on track and try to capture that long-awaited eighth world title.
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