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Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget at the Abu Dhabi GP 2021. In what was the final race of the season, he was turned into a sitting duck after a somewhat controversial procedure for the Safety Car restart.
The SC restart saw his championship rival Max Verstappen directly behind him on a brand new set of soft compound tires while the Mercedes driver had a worn-out set of hard compound tires on his car.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was furious at the decision and with the camera on him throughout the last lap of the race his reactions, as he saw Verstappen overtake Hamilton, were on display for everyone.
In the second half of the 2021 F1 season, the team radio conversations between Wolff and race director Michael Masi were heard becoming more and more of a feature.
The race had earlier featured Wolff pleading on team radio to Masi about not bringing out the Safety Car after a Virtual Safety Car provided Red Bull with the opportunity to pit Verstappen for a fresh pair of hard tires.
After Lewis Hamilton picked off Max Verstappen at the start of the race, it did appear that Mercedes had the race, as well as the championship, in their pocket. Hamilton was able to pull out a gap without too much trouble whenever Red Bull and Verstappen threatened to attack with strategy calls like switching to a two-stopper or pitting early to get rid of the soft tires.
The entire script flipped on its head when Michael Masi’s decision to allow the lapped cars to overtake the leaders during the Safety Car period left Hamilton vulnerable to Verstappen’s attacks. Wolff’s radio message to Masi saying “No, Mikey, No, this is not right” was ironically broadcasted while Max Verstappen successfully defended the lead against Lewis Hamilton on the main straight.
Can Lewis Hamilton’s loss get overturned with a Mercedes protest?
Mercedes have lodged an intention to appeal against the stewards’ decision after the race where they protested the SC restart. Their protest was dismissed earlier by the stewards. Regardless of Mercedes' appeal, according to a few F1 pundits, it's hard to get the decision overturned and Max Verstappen losing the title to Lewis Hamilton.
