© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff says there was “no big conspiracy theory” behind the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but adds he would have wished that “Jean Todt got involved rather than being filmed for his documentary”.
At the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, F1 race director (at the time) Michael Masi chose not to follow the rules which govern the use of the Safety Car in the final laps of the race, and this allowed Max Verstappen to easily overtake Lewis Hamilton, who was on much older tyres, and claim victory and the 2021 championship.
After the event Mercedes protested the decisions, but they were dismissed by the stewards. Afterwards the team lodged an intention to appeal, however, a few days later they announced they will not go through with it.
Interestingly, a recent Canal Plus documentary on Jean Todt, who was FIA president at the time, revealed that Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner both contacted the Frenchman in the immediate aftermath of the race, while he was watching the whole thing unfold from his home in Paris.
Todt basically dismissed Wolff by telling him he should “listen to the stewards and understand what happened”, but he congratulated Horner.
Since that fateful night in Abu Dhabi fans have been speculating that what happened was not a result of a race director ‘going rogue’, but actually a ‘plot’ by the whole FIA.
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In a recent talk with ESPN, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he doesn’t believe there was a ‘grand conspiracy’ at work.
“For us it was a catastrophic set of circumstances, but it was the making of one man, there is no big conspiracy theory behind it,” the Austrian said ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.
“Would I have wished that Jean Todt got involved rather than being filmed for his documentary? Yes. At least to tell the stewards to look at it the right way.
“But would it have made a difference? I don’t know. It was the making of one man, this was a championship between two drivers and two teams.
“Both had merited to win and on the day the outcome was different because one guy just lost the plot.
“But I am at peace with it now,” Wolff concluded.
