F1 news LIVE: Mercedes withdraw appeal as doubts raised over ‘disillusioned’ Lewis Hamilton’s future

Max Verstappen has admitted that he and F1 title rival Lewis Hamilton “sometimes hated each other” during their epic battle this season.

The Dutchman emerged victorious after a rollercoaster season and even more dramatic final race of the season in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Hamilton looked destined for a record-breaking eighth crown before a safety car and a controversial ruling under it saw Verstappen roar back to win on the final lap.

Relations between the two drivers and their teams have been strained to say the least during the year with Verstappen insisting that is all part of the sport.

“You look each other in the eye,” he said. “You don’t say a lot but you do relate a lot and you really appreciate the fight.

“Sometimes we did hate each other, but that’s fine. That’s the competitive spirit of both of us. He is an incredible driver.”

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has claimed Red Bull and team boss Christian Horner were “playing rough” as they looked to put the pressure on race director Michael Masi during the closing stages of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Horner pleaded Masi to give championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton “one more lap” following the safety car, with Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff later criticising the “unacceptable” way in which the race unfolded.

Five cars were allowed to overtake the safety car, putting Verstappen directly behind Hamilton on a fresh set of soft tyres, and Hill said Red Bull were smart in how they argued for the drivers to be allowed to race for the line.

“I think these are the new rules,” Hill told Sky Sports. “I think it’s a new style of race directing, I think that Mercedes have struggled with the decisions that have been made.

“Red Bull played rough, but they’ve persuaded the race director that cars should be allowed to race, and it should be a robust kind of formula, and they’ve prevailed.”

Toto Wolff has revealed he is still struggling to come to terms with the finale of the F1 season that saw Lewis Hamilton lose the drivers’ title to Max Verstappen.

“When I rethink the situation that at 18:27, the right decision was being taken – that no cars will un-lap themselves – and four minutes later, out of nowhere, suddenly five cars were allowed to un-lap themselves between Lewis and Max. And 10 seconds later, the decision was made that the Safety Car would come in this lap with a handful of laps only left.

“To be honest, for me, that still seems like a nightmare. That’s why I was in total disbelief on Sunday and I am still until today.

“On a human level, it is extremely difficult because it is so disappointing,” he added. “As I said before, we love the sport and then suddenly you’re starting to question.

“I mean, you must never lose the big context of life – this is just Formula 1, it’s just a sport, much worse things happen out there and we shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking this is the most important thing in the world.

“But it is our little microcosm and it’s a microcosm that we have been part of where we have created values and beliefs and many of those values and beliefs were kicked on Sunday.”

The chaotic ending was not what the sport wanted after a fabulous season and such an exciting title race between Hamilton and Verstappen.

The FIA have promised a “detailed analysis and clarification exercise” into what went on at the end of the race with Wolff of the belief that inconsistencies in “the execution of the regulations” need to be ironed out.

“If you look at most of the controversies that have happened this year it was about sporting decisions on the track, the inconsistency of the execution of the regulations on track,” he added.

“It’s one thing to drive hard and to have difference of opinion among the drivers and the teams. It is in the nature of the game. But inconsistent decision-making leads to controversies, leads to polarisation and that was the ground for many of the totally unnecessary controversies on the track.”

Toto Wolff has accused FIA race director Michael Masi of “robbing” Lewis Hamilton of the 2021 Formula 1 drivers’ title.

The Brit was searching for an eighth world crown but saw his hopes evaporate when it was decided that, under a late safety car in Abu Dhabi, lapped cars would be able to unlap themselves prior to the race restarting.

The call saw title rival Verstappen able to close the gap and ultimately pass Hamilton on the final lap to secure his maiden title.

The decision Masi made has come in for heavy criticism with Wolff furious and Mercedes lodging two protests immediately after the race.

Both were subsequently thrown out with Mercedes later deciding against taking the matter further, effectively confirming Verstappen as champion.

Wolff has been left extremely disappointed by what he sees as an unjust ending to the season.

“The decisions that have been taken in the last four minutes of this race have robbed Lewis Hamilton of a deserved world championship,” he said. “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. And robbing him in the last lap of the race is unacceptable.

“That’s why from a personal standpoint, from a professional standpoint, my values, my sense of integrity, just isn’t compatible to the decisions that have been made on Sunday. And it is up to the FIA to decide going forward how these decisions, these situations can be avoided.”

Toto Wolff has admitted he is unsure about Lewis Hamilton’s future in Formula 1 revealing both he and his driver are “disillusioned” by the result of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton lost on what would have been a record-breaking eighth world title after rival Max Verstappen passed him on the final lap of the race following a controversial decision by race stewards.

Mercedes and Wolff were left furious and lodged immediate protests against Verstappen’s win only to see them knocked back by the FIA.

They have since confirmed they won’t pursue any further appeal with Wolff’s attentions now turning to the future of his star driver and how he is feeling ahead of next season.

Commentator Jolyon Palmer says if Valtteri Bottas was more affective in the Abu Dhabi race Lewis Hamilton would have taken the win.

Bottas had a disappointing race, stuck in the midfield, and had the complete opposite impact that eventual winner Max Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez had. Perez held Hamilton off while Verstappen was in the pit with the Dutchman calling him a “legend”.

Palmer said on BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast: “Bottas had a shocker. 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.”

Martin Brundle says the FIA is not feared by teams and Mercedes and Red Bull speaking to Michael Masi during the final race shows that.

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff had conversations with Masi around the time he was making a decision on whether to restart the final race after Nicholas Latifi crashed.

“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.

And he added:“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.”

Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team have dropped plans to appeal against the result of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and have congratulated Max Verstappen as Formula One world champion.

Red Bull’s Verstappen seized the title after overtaking seven-times world champion Hamilton on the last lap of the race amid uproar over how a late safety car period was conducted.

The Dutch driver is due to collect his trophy at a gala awards ceremony in Paris tonight.

Mercedes welcomed the governing FIA’s decision, announced on Wednesday, to analyse what happened at Yas Marina and bring clarity for the future.

“We will hold the FIA accountable for this process and we hereby withdraw our appeal,” the team said.

Mercedes had announced their intention to appeal after two post-race protests were dismissed. The deadline was Thursday evening.

Max Verstappen wasn’t concerned about any Mercedes protest having won the F1 title “on the track”.

The 24-year-old has been revelling in the success of his maiden F1 world title, clinched from Lewis Hamilton on Sunday in controversial circumstances, and he is scheduled to collect the championship trophy at the FIA award gala in Paris tonight.

The trophy presentation is set to take place at 7pm GMT.

Verstappen said: “I’m fine, I don’t even think about it too much, because I do feel like the world champion, and it doesn’t matter what they try to do.

“We won it on track, we won it when there was a green light and we passed them on track, and they will never be able to take that away from me anyway.”