F1 news LIVE: Jos Verstappen reveals messages from Anthony Hamilton amid fierce rivalry

Martin Brundle believes the FIA is “a little rudderless” under its current leadership, with teams increasingly confident in challenging the governing body.

“The final few laps in Abu Dhabi, when the world’s eyes were on us in staggering numbers, were not our finest moment and some things have to change this winter. We certainly confused our fans on Sunday,” wrote Brundle in his Sky Sports column.

“If Michael wants to continue, and F1 and the governing body the FIA want to keep him, things must change.”

Jean Todt, the FIA’s current president, was already set to stand down and Brundle fears the governing body could now lack firm leadership at a decisive time for the sport’s future.

“Jean Todt retires shortly, after 12 years as President of the FIA. However, while we await a new President and his supporting team, I imagine the FIA is a little rudderless and certainly not feared by the teams, who lived in great trepidation of Mosley and the ‘bringing the sport into disrepute’ clause,” wrote Brundle.

“Until this year, any correspondence from the pit wall to Race Control was not broadcast, and it’s totally unacceptable to hear team bosses and team managers even pre-empting situations and lobbying.”

After Hamilton made his first and only pit stop, he emerged from the pit lane behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who refused to be overtaken easily, with the pair’s duel allowing Max Verstappen to close the gap significantly.

However, Bottas offered Hamilton no such support, having fallen down the grid at the start of the race and become stuck in the pack.

“Bottas had a shocker,” said Palmer. “Now, did that cost Hamilton the title? If Bottas is within a pit-stop window of Verstappen, Verstappen is not having ‘free’ stops willy nilly.

“A great driver for the team for so many years, his last race he went missing and it meant Verstappen had a ‘free’ stop at the Virtual Safety Car, ‘free’ stop at the Safety Car.

“If you’ve got another Mercedes there within 23 seconds of him, in a car that’s quicker with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel, he can’t do it and Hamilton is the champion.

“Bottas has been solid but when it counted, he couldn’t help his teammate, and Perez did everything he possibly could, and he was in contention to do so.”

Michael Masi has faced repeated calls for his resignation in wake of the season finale and Red Bull chief Helmut Marko admitted the FIA’s new president would need to offer clearer support to the beleaguered race director.

“The new FIA president will have to come up with a new system that will help Masi, because he can’t do it alone,” Marko said. “At the moment there is too much pressure on his shoulders. I think, for example, that team managers and team bosses should no longer be able to speak to Masi through a direct line during a race.

“In addition, the rules need to be simplified. Too many decisions have been made that have displeased either us or Mercedes. There needs to be more uniformity in the judgements.”

Toto Wolff was adamant that he has no interest in speaking to Masi and that the race director was responsible for “robbing” Lewis Hamilton of a record-breaking eighth world title.

“I am not interested in having a conversation with Michael Masi,” Wolff said. “The decisions that have been taken in the last four minutes of this race have dropped Lewis Hamilton from a deserved world championship. His driving, particularly in the last four races, was faultless.

“He had a commanding lead on Sunday in Abu Dhabi from the get-go. He won the start, and he never gave the lead away again. Robbing him in the last lap of the race is unacceptable.”

Read the full story on Toto Wolff’s claim that Mercedes would have one the F1 world title in court had they pursued it:

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Perez’s first full season at Red Bull coincided with Verstappen’s maiden F1 championship, as the Dutchman defeated Lewis Hamilton at the final race of the season to claim the title.

Verstappen was the dominant driver of the season, winning 10 races, but Perez’s contribution was illustrated by his committed defending against Hamilton during the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull have traditionally struggled to fill the second seat alongside Verstappen, with Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly struggling during their stints with the team, but Formula One’s newest champion revealed Perez had exceeded his expectations.

“I never thought he would be this awesome,” Verstappen told Ziggo Sport. “Previously I only knew him as a driver, but now that I have spent a little more time with him I have noticed that he is really a top guy.”

Hamilton, who was denied the chance to surpass Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world titles, is still contracted to Mercedes for another two years, but Palmer believes Verstappen and Red Bull will be an even greater force next season.

“You wonder where [Verstappen] can go from here now that he has his first title under his belt,” Palmer wrote in his column.

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Read the full story on Nico Rosberg’s take on Lewis Hamilton’s future:

Lewis Hamilton is set to face punishment for skipping the FIA’s season-ending gala in Paris this week, the newly-elected president of Formula One’s governing body has confirmed.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem said he had sympathy for Hamilton but insisted that rules must be followed and added: “If there is any breach, there is no forgiveness on this.”

Hamilton and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff skipped the Thursday night gala, despite Article 6.6 of the F1 regulations requiring the top three drivers in the Championship to be present. It is unclear what type of sanctions are at the FIA’s disposal.

“Forgiveness is always there but rules are rules,” added Ben Sulayem, who was elected on Friday after receiving just under 62 per cent of the vote in a two-horse race with Britain’s Graham Stoker.

“They are there to be improved but we have to look if there is any breach. It doesn’t stop us from making a champion feel good about the sport.”

The 60-year-old from the United Arab Emirates refused to be drawn on the implications of the controversial ending to last Sunday’s Championship-deciding Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, other than to confirm that procedures would be put in place to avoid any future such confusion.

“I have promised we will look into the rules and make sure that any situation of this sort that occurs in the future, we will have an instant solution for it,” added Ben Sulayem.

“We had a meeting with the drivers and I feel that what happened has been declared now. The FIA took a decision, we discussed it and there was a statement, and now we have to start the new season.

“We have to be proactive and reactive. I feel it is a time where as a driver I would be so upset for a while, but time is a factor that will cool. After the holidays and Christmas, in the new year we will start afresh.”

Ben Sulayem will inherit a promise from his predecessor Jean Todt to embark upon a “detailed analysis and clarification exercise” in the wake of the Abu Dhabi controversy, which culminated in Max Verstappen claiming his maiden world crown.

Ben Sulayem is a former 14-time Middle East Rally champion, and has been president of the Emirates Motorsports Organisation since 2005.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has compared Lewis Hamilton missing out on the Formula One world title to Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ – but denied claims the driver was “cheated” out of a record-breaking eighth championship.

Mercedes and Wolff were left furious after Verstappen was allowed to position himself behind Hamilton on fresh tyres following a late safety car at the Yas Marina Circuit. Wolff called the actions of race director Michael Masi “unacceptable” while Mercedes boss and Wolff’s wife Susie has also claimed that Hamilton was “robbed” of the championship.

In an interview with BILD, Wolff went on to compare Verstappen’s dramatic title win to Maradona’s infamous first goal against England at the 1986 World Cup, as well as England’s winner against Germany in the 1966 World Cup final that caused debate over whether it crossed the line.

“It is definitely on a par with the ‘Hand of God’ by Diego Maradona or the Wembley goal from 1966,” Wolff said.

“An inconsistent decision by the race director took the title away from Lewis,” he added, after rejecting that his driver had been “cheated”.

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