It has been almost two years since the fateful night in Abu Dhabi but the debates regarding the same yet continue. Ahead of the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP, Christian Horner reminisced about the 2021 season finale which provoked Toto Wolff to ask Horner to be happy and humble with their achievements.
Talking on Sky Sports F1’s A League of Their Own show, Horner claimed that Hamilton lost the title in 2021 because of Mercedes’ fault. He said, “Mercedes f****d up. They left poor Lewis out there on tires that had done pretty much most of the race.” On the contrary, Verstappen was on fresh tires and ready to attack Hamilton.
#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 | Toto Wolff on Christian Horner: “You’ve won the season, be happy about it, humble, enjoy it. Don’t come out with comments about Abu Dhabi 2021, which are completely off the mark. [It’s a] character question. I just wonder what’s going on up there.”
— deni (@fiagirly) November 24, 2023
Toto Wolff replied to Horner and suggested the Briton not to talk about things from the past. Wolff said, “You’ve won the season, be happy about it, humble. Enjoy it. Don’t come out with comments about Abu Dhabi 2021, which are completely off the mark.”
As it turns out, Red Bull and Mercedes still haven’t been able to get over the controversial Abu Dhabi GP of 2021. The wounds are still quite fresh for Mercedes as they believe that Hamilton lost a golden opportunity to win a record eighth title due to poor officiating.
Wolff believes that Horner’s comments are completely off the mark since it couldn’t have been anticipated that race control would clear away only the lapped cars between Verstappen and Hamilton.
As a result, once racing resumed after the safety car, the Dutchman easily passed Hamilton, who was on old tires. While on-track battles between the two have been a rarity ever since, the two teams still do not see eye to eye.
Christian Horner tried to unsettle Mercedes by making a bold Lewis Hamilton claim
Ever since the 2021 season ended, Lewis Hamilton has failed to win a single race for two years straight. With the new regulations coming in from 2022, Mercedes have been struggling to keep up with Red Bull. The only Mercedes win after 2021 came at the 2022 Brazilian GP, but it was George Russell who won the race.
Amidst Mercedes’ struggles, Christian Horner recently claimed that Hamilton had contacted him, looking for an opportunity to drive the dominant Red Bull. However, Hamilton vehemently denied any such claims and even went to the lengths of calling Horner an attention seeker.
Lewis Hamilton: “He (Christian Horner) did reach out to me earlier this year to meet up“
It was Horner who wanted to talk to Lewis and not the other way around 😂 pic.twitter.com/cJeoqwrVJM
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) November 23, 2023
The seven-time world champion said, “If you really think about it, there’s a lot of people here that love to drop my name in many conversations because they know it’s gonna make waves.” It’s quite evident that Horner’s comments did not sit well with Hamilton who has now stated that it was Horner who contacted him.
