
© Wolfgang Wilhelm for Daimler AG
Toto Wolff says Red Bull felt a sense of “entitlement” over Max Verstappen’s controversial 2021 world title win, and blasts them for their reaction in the aftermath.
Back in 2021, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton lost the F1 world title fight to Max Verstappen under controversial circumstances.
More specifically, race director (at the time) Michael Masi made a series of decisions in the final laps of the race, which went against the rules and practices of Safety Car deployment, and which directly influenced the outcome of the race, allowing Max Verstappen to win.
This caused a lot of backlash on social media and Verstappen’s legitimacy as the world champion is being questioned by a lot of fans and observers to this day.
During his appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff blasted Red Bull’s reaction in the aftermath of that controversial race.
“I felt that the other side [Red Bull], and that’s not Max [Verstappen], but there was not a one sentence saying: ‘That was a difficult day for Mercedes…'” Wolff said.
“‘They are both deserving champions, today it went against Mercedes. It went against us before,’” he continued.
“There was not one word from Christian Horner or the other team [Red Bull] in acknowledging that, it was like entitlement.”
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Asked if Red Bull was perhaps hesitant to give such comments due to the delicacy of the situation, and the possibility that the result may yet be contested, Toto responded bluntly: “We would have said it.”
Ultimately, the Austrian believes both drivers deserved to win the world title that year.
“Both drivers were deserving champions, because of the ups and downs during the season. And probably both of them should have been world champions.”
When it was suggested that Mercedes perhaps had the better car at the time, Toto said:
“At the end, not the first half of the year. I think Lewis was the stronger driver in the second half, Max was in the first half – and the same with the cars.
“They should have both had the trophy, but on that day, in that race, the race was decided, and it fell the other way,” he concluded.