“He wanted to win the Championship on track”: Lewis Hamilton reportedly asked Mercedes boss Toto Wolf to withdraw the protests made against Max Verstappen winning the Abu Dhabi GP

Lewis Hamilton wanted Toto Wolff to withdraw the Mercedes’ protests against Max Verstappen winning the Abu Dhabi GP. 

A season full of controversy ended with yet another questionable decision at the finale’s end. Verstappen passed Hamilton on the race’s final lap to win his first World Title.

A crash for Williams driver Nicholas Latifi brought out the safety car with five laps remaining. The Red Bull driver was in 2nd place and decided to pit for soft tyres. This momentarily cost him as he came out with five lapped cars between himself and Hamilton.

At first, the lapped drivers were asked to maintain formation. However, race director Michael Masi broke Mercedes hearts when he ordered the lapped cars to overtake the safety car with just one lap to go. This put Verstappen right behind Hamilton on fresher and softer tyres.

The Red Bull driver comfortably went ahead of the 7-time World Champion to take home the win and the Championship. Mercedes were not happy with the decision and immediately protested it. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton wasn’t interested in doing so.

Also read: FIA Stewards defends race director Michael Masi against Mercedes’ safety car complaint

Mercedes went ahead with the protests despite Lewis Hamilton asking them not to

Before Toto Wolff went over to race control with a barrister to protest the decision, Hamilton reportedly asked the Austrian not to, according to Dutch media outlet F1 Maximaal.

Wolff, however, went against Lewis’ wishes and took the matter into his own hands.

The Silver Arrows made two separate protests following Abu Dhabi. Their efforts went in vain as the FIA refused to uphold either. The Brackley based team have announced that they intend to appeal this verdict, and they have time to do so by Thursday.

The FIA took 4 hours to recognize Max Verstappen as the 2021 F1 World Champion officially. This decision was delayed because of the protests made by Mercedes.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko was unhappy with the whole situation. He accused Mercedes of being sore losers and said Red Bull would consider leaving the sport if these things weren’t regulated properly.

Also read: Lando Norris questions Michael Masi’s decision to allow lapped cars to overtake safety car during the last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP