Susie Wolff in “utter disbelief” after Hamilton was “robbed” in F1 finale
Susie, the wife of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and CEO of the Venturi Formula E team, is one of the first people associated with the reigning world champions to give their reaction to the controversial season finale.
Hamilton lost the title to Max Verstappen on the final lap in Abu Dhabi following a controversial Safety Car period.
Hamilton had dominated the race up until Nicholas Latifi’s crash in the final sector which promoted FIA race director Michael Masi to deploy the Safety Car.
This allowed Verstappen to switch to softs, while Hamilton stayed out on hards in hope that the Safety Car would remain out until the end of the race or lapped cars wouldn’t be allowed to overtake.
The latter seemed the most likely scenario as the FIA announced lapped cars wouldn’t be allowed to overtake, but that quickly changed, as five of the eight lapped cars were allowed through, meaning Verstappen was now directly behind Hamilton at the restart.
Masi’s decision to only allow a handful of cars to unlap themselves seemingly contravened the sporting regulations, with Mercedes set to announce later today whether it plans to formally appeal the result of the Abu Dhabi GP.
On Thursday morning, Wolff wrote a scathing statement on Twitter: “Going into this final weekend, I believed both teams and drivers deserved to win. It was going to be a spectacle, a historic race that we all hoped would end without controversy. That wasn’t to be.
“What happened is still hard to comprehend and leaves me with a sick feeling. Not losing - and not Max and Red Bull - they are deserving winners and we always knew it was a strong possibility we may not win - but the way in which Lewis was robbed has left me in utter disbelief.
“The decision of one person within the governing body who applied a rule in a way which has never been done before in F1 single-handedly decided the F1 drivers’ world championship. Rules are rules, they can’t be changed on a whim or by one individual at the end of the race.”
The former Williams F1 test driver went onto praise Hamilton for his “incredibly integrity and dignity” and congratulated Verstappen on his maiden F1 title.
— Susie Wolff (@Susie_Wolff) December 16, 2021
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