It was a winner-takes-all situation for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi. With tensions already running high, a controversial decision by the race director in the final moments of the race made all hell break loose, particularly in the Mercedes camp. Being on the winning side then, Adrian Newey recently detailed how Hamilton’s championship loss took a psychological toll on the Brackley-based team.
Michael Masi, the race director at the time, made an error while resuming the race after a late safety car. All lapped cars were not allowed to unlap themselves, adding to the drama.
Verstappen had pitted for fresh soft tires during this safety car, and made short work of the #44 driver on the last lap, taking home a race win and his maiden drivers’ championship. Looking back at the incident while appearing on the ‘High Performance’ Podcast, Newey detailed how things got too tough for Mercedes to handle.
“I think it got to Mercedes. Instead of saying, ‘OK, we will accept it and move on,’ it started to affect their psyche, which is an interesting one.” He added, “They couldn’t let it go psychologically.”
As Hamilton embraced his father after a disheartening result, Toto Wolff took the fight to the officials. He outrightly claimed that the result wasn’t fair. Meanwhile, the seven-time world champion took a hiatus from all social media, spending his days in solace.
The FIA soon fired Masi, giving further credibility to Mercedes‘ claims. However, the way the Brackley-based team handled things did not sit well with Newey. While he admitted he also would be extremely angry if something similar happened to him, the Red Bull genius said he would not take it to work.
The 65-year-old claimed that carrying the misery into the factory wasn’t a good thing for the team. Per Newey, it creates a negative environment and affects people’s work. Furthermore, he believes a sulking leader won’t be able to motivate a team dealing with a major setback.
