Mercedes bosses do not blame Hamilton’s attitude in the race

Highly paradoxical situation today within the newly triple world champion Drivers/Constructors team. Lewis Hamilton’s attitude in Abu Dhabi caused significant moments of tension, as evidenced by the radio exchanges throughout the race. Technical executive director, Paddy Lowe, personally took the microphone to talk to his driver:

Paddy Lowe: « Lewis, you have to increase your pace, it’s an order. »

Lewis Hamilton: « I have lost the championship. So winning the race, I don’t care. »

After the fact, the former McLaren official did not want to make a harsh judgment on the situation. When asked « did Lewis Hamilton ignore the team’s orders? », his comments were very distant: « I do not want to comment on the subject. Who knew the real pace of this car? We didn’t drive it ourselves! I think it was great to see Sebastian getting closer to us, it was a very good strategy from Ferrari. It was a breathless job for us on the pit wall, with these final laps where Vettel could have overtaken Nico or even Lewis. »

Paddy Lowe actually preferred to muddle the waters: « This race clearly shows what makes F1 so exciting; in the way of building a conflict, with a team that necessarily has different expectations regarding its two drivers. They both want to win while we also come primarily to see the team win. »

On his side, the boss himself didn’t really know what to think of this paradoxical situation: “I am a little schizophrenic!” said Toto Wolff at the end of this crazy race. “Obviously, we have a rule that states that each driver must obey a team rule. But there is also the competitor in me and during the race I was questioning myself: What is he doing? He had several strategies, winning with a lead or playing it differently, slowing down. That’s what he decided to do. So, I am torn.”

By the way, he didn’t hesitate to scratch the one who whispered in his driver’s ear, the top official at Red Bull: « Lewis finally followed Christian’s idea. Maybe he could have driven instead of him while he was at it!

The Austrian also took the opportunity to remind of the mentality of the Mercedes team: « We can also leave them with fewer rules, the consequence would then be that we would not have won as many races and championships! We have a philosophy: we do not intervene, as much as possible, while preserving our chances of victory. In today’s race, we calculated that we could have lost the race because Lewis was going slower and slower. »

Actually, Toto Wolff was still closer to understanding than rejecting his triple world champion’s attitude. He even stated afterwards on Canal+ microphone: “I have a certain understanding for what he did.”

Interesting were also the reactions of Alain Prost, still on the “Formula One” show.

In the regulations, nothing states that you are not required to fulfill your potential. It just needs to not be dangerous. It was well done. I was afraid he would do something “dirty” in the end, but he didn’t, it’s great.

Likewise, Wolff highlighted his other protege, the new world champion: « Nico had more pace. He also remained very calm, despite the pressure. Maybe he could have pushed himself to overtake. But you know, it’s difficult to find a solution in every situation. »

To finish, Niki Lauda also did not wish to comment on Hamilton’s tactics. The former driver will still speak with him to know his position.

Thus, these reactions clearly show that Mercedes is playing the card of apparent unity. From now on, it will be necessary to manage the egos of two Formula 1 world champion drivers. New sources of tension are therefore to be expected for 2017, in the case where Mercedes still dominates the premier discipline of motor sports…