The outcome of the Abu Dhabi GP in which Verstappen beat Hamilton to become champion continues to generate controversy on the defeated side. Mercedes has maintained a deathly silence on social media since Sunday night, and not even the two days of postseason testing at Yas Marina prompted posts from the German team.
This Thursday, when the deadline to appeal the decisions of the Abu Dhabi GP was met, they finally broke their silence and announced that they would not appeal, with a statement in which they celebrate the FIA’s decision to investigate what happened.
But while before the Mercedes statement, someone very close to the team director Toto Wolff , specifically his wife, raised his voice on Twitter, where he published a letter in which he charges against the FIA and suggests that everything was a whim of the race director , Michael Massi.
The way in which the restart of the race was managed after the Safety Car caused by Nicholas Latifi’s accident left Mercedes furious, who filed two protests (both were rejected) considering that two articles of the Sporting Code had been breached. And although the statement from the German team was in a much more conciliatory tone, Susie has not held her tongue in a staunch defense of Lewis Hamilton.
“Going into this final race weekend, I think both teams and both drivers deserved to win. It was going to be a show, a historic race that we all hoped would end without controversy. But it didn’t,” Susie’s letter begins. Wolff, Venturi team principal in Formula E.
Already in the second paragraph, he clarifies that his criticism is not against Red Bull or Max Verstappen, but he talks about stealing from Hamilton.
“What happened is still hard to fathom and leaves me with a sick feeling. Not to lose – nor is it anything against Max or Red Bull, they are deserving winners and we always knew there was a high chance of not being able to win – but the way they that Lewis was robbed has left me in total disbelief.
The following words are a dart against Masi, whom however he does not mention.
“The decision of one person within the governing body who applied a rule in a way that has never been done before in F1 single-handedly decided the F1 world drivers’ championship. The rules are the rules, they cannot be changed by whim of an individual at the end of a career”.
Next, Wolff goes on to congratulate the runner-up, with another hint, and immediately afterwards to the champions of both drivers and constructors.
“Lewis Hamilton, you have shown incredible integrity and dignity in the face of injustice. You are the greatest there has ever been. The result of the final laps on Sunday? Those who know, know, even those who dare not admit it.”
“Congratulations to Max and congratulations to every member of the Mercedes AMG F1 Team for an incredible record eighth consecutive constructors’ world championship.”
And in the end, he admits that he has fallen out of love with F1 and makes a wish for the start of the 2022 season: “I hope that by March next year there will be a governing body with sporting integrity and fairness at its core so that I can fall in love again with the F1”.
