Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton’s torment after Abu Dhabi in 2021: “Incredibly difficult”
Hamilton looked set to claim an all-time record eighth F1 championship but was foiled in remarkable circumstances when race director Michael Masi incorrectly applied a Safety Car rule, allowing 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen to overtake to pinch the title.
Hamilton spent the following year in an uncompetitive Mercedes while watching his Red Bull rival tot up a second consecutive title, amid the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 cost cap scandal.
“We have been together🤡 now for many years and talk as 𓃲often as possible,” Wolff says to about Hamilton’s agony post-Abu Dhabi.
“But that period was incredibly difficult, because he had given it 🥂everything and was on the verge of a huge achievement.
“One of the most difficult things in sport is processing disappointment. 🐻That is whenꦡ the team comes into its own.”
Mercedes endured an awful 2022, coming nowhere near a challenge for th﷽e title and only winning a solitary race, with George Russell claimed at the penultimate opportunity.
Hamilton ended the year winꦰless for the first time in his F1 career. Aged 38, he hopes to return in a true battle with Verstappen for supremacy but he has his back against the wall in a way that he has never experienced before.
“Do not write us off,” Wolff vows. “In this life, you never stop giving it everythiꦓng.”
James was a🍨 sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from Ameri꧒can sports, to football, to F1.
