Source; YouTube
Toto Wolff says that after the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he felt “angry that an individual was able to take away an eighth championship from the best driver in the world by a bad decision”.
During his appearance on the High Performance Podcast, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed he still thinks about the unjust finish of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
In that controversial race, race director (at the time) Michael Masi disregarded the rules of Safety Car deployment, and basically handed Max Verstappen the race win and the 2021 title on a silver platter.
After conducting an investigation into the matter, the FIA determined Masi made a “human error”, and he was later removed from his role.
“There’s a moment every week where I think about it,” Wolff said.
“But I mainly think about it because I think Lewis deserved to be the greatest of all time with eight World Championship titles.
“And you can argue all along about that year. I think Max and Lewis were deserving champions. There were instances during the year where Max lost some points that he shouldn’t have lost.
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“You look at Silverstone today, you look at the crash in Monza both of them had, so both deserving champions.
“But on that particular afternoon in Abu Dhabi, it was unfair.”
Toto said that in the aftermath of the race, he was angry at Masi for what he did.
“I felt angry, not depressed or sad, just angry that an individual was able to take away an eighth championship from the best driver in the world by a bad decision.
“But you have to put it into context. There are dictators around the world and politicians that cause so much pain that it is in no way comparable to Lewis losing the eighth title or for us as a team.
“But the anger of that moment, of a person… But even Lewis learned to manage his emotions very strongly and after a few days was in an okay space.
“It still goes with us because of the unfairness that happened on this particular day.”
The Austrian also revealed that he was trying to help guide Masi throughout 2021, after the Australian inherited the role of race director two years earlier, following the death of widely respected long-time F1 race director Charlie Whiting.
“I really tried to speak with Michael and guide him throughout the year. I tried to say: ‘Listen, I’ve been in the sport a long time, listen to the drivers, don’t be stubborn in your decision-making.’
“I tried that for the good of the sport and obviously for us as a team as to not be vulnerable to situations that could be totally detrimental, so in that sense, what happened is inexcusable.
“Now, you could say the empathy should make me realise how he feels. I realise how he feels and I know that is not good, but he could have thought about it all year and there were people, not only me, trying to support him in the right way.
“Sometimes you just have to admit that someone is just doing his own thing or making his own decisions.
“So, for me, I don’t care about it anymore,” Wolff concluded.
