Horner: Mercedes was naive

Inevitably, Lewis Hamilton’s tactic did not fail to provoke a reaction from the F1 Circus players. His unreasonable slowdown was not far from cracking Rosberg yesterday in Abu Dhabi. Before his triumph, the future world champion was at the mercy of the drivers behind him, Max Verstappen but especially Sebastian Vettel, who came back like a rocket at the end of the race thanks to his new super-soft tires.

Horner still defends Hamilton, in order to discredit Mercedes?

Interviewed on the subject, Christian Horner has, in line with his recent statements, expressed his point of view on Mercedes’ attitude. Instead of Paddy Lowe, Horner stated that he would not have interfered in the ongoing battle between Hamilton and Rosberg. As a reminder, the technical director of the German team ordered his driver to accelerate twice to win the race. A subliminal message that mainly suggested giving Nico Rosberg some space in this epic end of the race.

For the principal team of the Austrian team, the observation was as follows: « Where they were at, with such a scenario, it was solely up to these guys to sort it out, especially since there had already been this kind of battle between the two on the track.

Congratulations to Nico, he had a fantastic season, he deserves the title of world champion. But it is naive to think that there was no other possible approach.

Horner added that Hamilton’s tactics were legitimate as long as they remained within the rules. Therefore, there is no reason to criticize the now former world champion.

» He acted completely by the rules, but winning the race was not enough. He needed intermediate drivers between him and Rosberg.

A stance, however, in line with the general trend

Before the Grand Prix, Horner had already likened Hamilton’s situation to an English FA Cup final.

Apparently, the English manager really loves soccer!

« He won the race by driving as slowly as possible. It’s like a football match where a team has to protect themselves from the opponent by keeping the ball excessively. There were only two drivers competing for the world championship title. Therefore, what he did is totally legitimate. He did nothing dirty, he didn’t break the rules; it would be unfair to criticize Lewis for what he did.

Such a observation was shared by the Professor himself. Alain Prost had already reacted to this issue on the(Formula One) show on Canal+. He himself had admitted the idea that Hamilton had not done anything wrong.

Just like Toto Wolff, who had come to the same microphone to admit, albeit indirectly, that he “understood” Hamilton’s attitude.

It seems obvious that the Red Bull boss played a decisive role as referee throughout this Formula 1 grand final. In the end, could he not have taken a mischievous pleasure in getting back at Toto Wolff’s call earlier this month? Remember that the principal of the Mercedes team had called the Verstappen family between the Mexican Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix, in order to calm the young Max ahead of the final two races.

Finally, these little barbs are the beginning of a potentially intense battle between the two teams in 2017. The Austrian team knows this better than anyone else: the future Adrian Newey design is likely to thrive under the new technical regulations that favor aerodynamic downforce.

And there is no doubt that the leaders of the two teams will remember this end of season and these little reciprocal attentions…