Toto Wolff is not taking Lewis Hamilton’s title defeat in last week’s Abu Dhabi GP well, likening the situation to Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal against England during the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter final.
The Austrian was talking in an interview with Bild, in the aftermath of Mercedes announcing their withdrawal of their appeal of the 2021 Formula 1 Championship outcome – where Max Verstappen won this year’s F1 Drivers’ Title from Lewis Hamilton – after going under media silence for three days from the conclusion of the Abu Dhabi race weekend.
Maradona Hand of God
Wolff believes that this F1 season’s outcome is so controversial that he compared it to Maradona’s Hand of God controversy, when the Argentinian legend scored a goal using his hand against England in the 1986 quarter final game.
When asked if he feels what happened under the Yas Marina Circuit floodlights was injustice, Wolff said: “It is definitely on a par with Diego Maradona’s hand of God or the 1966 Wembley goal,” also referring to the 1966 third English goal controversy in the England vs West Germany World Cup Final.
However, he was reluctant to say Hamilton was cheated out of his eighth F1 Crown: “No. An inconsistent decision by the race director took the title away from Lewis.”
How the decisions post Abu Dhabi were made
Wolff went on to describe the decision process, in which Hamilton played a major role, within Mercedes that in the end resulted in the World Champions withdrawing their appeal.
“Every step was a joint decision,” he said. “We decided together that we would protest and wanted to thoroughly consider a possible appeal.
“We decided together not to do so. Even if we would have won in any normal court, we didn’t want to win the title at the green table,” the Austrian revealed.
Asked if he believed they could have won, Wolff said: “No.
“Because the world governing body FIA would have been both defendant and judge.
“That releases a feeling of powerlessness. Just like on Sunday in the last round.
“That’s the last time I felt like that as a child,” the Mercedes boss admitted.
We are still disillusioned
Mercedes don’t seem to have digested what happened yet with Wolff telling Bild: “Lewis and I are still completely disillusioned.
“My heart and soul are still crying with every pore.
“When the principles of sport are disregarded and the stopwatch is no longer worth anything, you start to question whether all the work, blood, sweat and tears are worth it,” Wolff mused.
However, there was a positive in the interview, as Wolff seemed to be in agreement with Helmut Marko – Red Bull’s Consultant – demanding simpler rules with personal consequences.
“For once, we are in total agreement,” Wolff said.
“The rulebook has to be watertight so that something like this doesn’t happen again.
“And the right people have to be in charge,” he insisted.