Wolff on Hamilton’s torment after Abu Dhabi: “Incredibly difficult”
Hamilton looked set to claim an all-time record eighth F1 championship but was foiled in remarkable circumstances when race director Michael Masi incorrectly applied a Safety Car rule, allowing Max Verstappen to overtake to pinch the title.
Hamilton spent the following year in an uncompetitive Mercedes while watching his Red Bull rival tot up a second consecutive title, amid the F1 cost cap scandal.
“We have been together now for many years and talk as often as possible,” Wolff says to The Times about Hamilton’s agony post-Abu Dhabi.
“But that period was incredibly difficult, because he had given it everything and was on the verge of a huge achievement.
“One of the most difficult things in sport is processing disappointment. That is when the team comes into its own.”
Mercedes endured an awful 2022, coming nowhere near a challenge for the title and only winning a solitary race, with George Russell claimed at the penultimate opportunity.
Hamilton ended the year winless for the first time in his F1 career. Aged 38, he hopes to return in a true battle with Verstappen for supremacy but he has his back against the wall in a way that he has never experienced before.
“Do not write us off,” Wolff vows. “In this life, you never stop giving it everything.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
