Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says Lewis Hamilton lost out on the Drivers’ Title due to mistakes made by Mercedes.
Max Verstappen beat Hamilton to win his 1st World Title in spite of the latter dominating the race. A controversial call by race director Michael Masi saw Verstappen given a massive advantage on the last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP.
Masi asked the lapped drivers to pass the safety car, right before racing resumed on the final lap. As a result, Hamilton was left with Verstappen on fresher and softer tyres, right behind him. The Red Bull driver passed Hamilton comfortably on that lap to win the race and Championship.
However, Mercedes were not happy with this outcome. They immediately protested the decision but had them thrown out by race control. The Brackley based team soon announced their intention to appeal.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko admitted that he’s disappointed with how Mercedes are behaving. “I can understand that they are unhappy.” said Marko.
“But what I don’t understand is, they had the possibility also to go to the pits. They didn’t. So it was their mistake. And to influence Michael Masi, the race director, not to give a safety car. That’s not in their competence.”
Also read: Red Bull claims F1 needs to rethink after Abu Dhabi GP’s controversial end
If you lose, you have to accept it, says the Red Bull chief
Marko understands the fact that having a Title taken away in that fashion is frustrating. But he also believes that once done, they have to accept the fact that they lost.
He went on to say that he was surprised Mercedes came to the UAE with one of England’s best barristers.
“We were really disappointed to see that they showed up with a barrister, one of the highest-paid barristers from England, to show up to the last race.” the 78 year old said.
“We take the best paid engineers to the race to get out the maximum of the car. So the way they acted after the race is for us not really understandable.”
“We understand the frustration – they believed until one lap from the end they would be accepted. If you lose, you have to accept it.” he concluded.
