Lewis Hamilton’s true feelings about the outcome of the Formula 1 world championship have been revealed, courtesy of a radio message to his team just four corners from the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having seen his comfortable lead evaporate with the appearance of the safety car, and then being left powerless to defend against title rival Max Verstappen, who had fresh tyres for the one-lap sprint to the finish, a single sentence reveals the extent of the Mercedes driver’s frustration.
It was a message that was not broadcast to the world, instead heard only by those watching Hamilton’s onboard footage on F1 TV.
“This has been manipulated, man,” he told his race engineer Pete Bonnington.
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That comment is at odds with Hamilton’s public remarks in the immediate aftermath of the controversial finish, one that saw Max Verstappen claim his first world title.
Bonnington’s first comment to Hamilton as the race finished summed up the team’s viewpoint.
“I’m just speechless Lewis,” he said.
“Absolutely speechless.”
Hamilton has been praised for his public grace in defeat, having been within a lap of securing what would have been a record eighth world title.
Mercedes is still contemplating whether or not to appeal to the FIA, having yesterday indicated its intention to do so. The team has until Friday morning (AEDT) to finalise that decision.
Hamilton’s feeling that the race was manipulated relates to the last-lap restart, which Mercedes contends did not follow the proper procedure.
The 1996 world champion, Damon Hill, tweeted immediately after the race that the race director, Australian Michael Masi, hadn’t applied the rules correctly.
https://twitter.com/HillF1/status/1470077133485711363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“A lot of not very happy people,” Hill wrote.
“And a lot of very happy people. This is a new way of running the sport where the race director can make these ad-hoc decisions.
“It’s been a bit too ‘guess what I’m going to do now’ I think.”
Verstappen has also revealed he received a congratulatory text message from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, in the hours after the acrimonious finish.
“Toto sent me a text — congratulations on the season and that I deserve to win it,” Verstappen said. “So that was very nice of him, of course. Emotions run very high to that last lap from both teams. It is what it is. We will see.”
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