Former Mercedes man 'quite happy' with Max Verstappen's 'controversial' 2021 F1 title victory

Former Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe has admitted he was "quite happy" to see Max Verstappen win the 2021 World Drivers' Championship, despite it coming under controversial circumstances.

Lowe, who had been a part of Red Bull's rival team Mercedes in three of Lewis Hamilton's championship-winning seasons, says his love of "jeopardy" in motorsports brought him to have a "controversial" take on the race. While talking to PlanetF1, he said:

"Great to see some change in the world order around the leading three teams. You know, I think noteworthy, completely not to my surprise, that the same three teams are at the top despite the cost cap, because of their embedded excellence in engineering and the tools for engineering great cars, which don’t go away with a cost cap."

Lowe continued:

"So I think it’s been good to see some disturbance but in another way, it’s still a shame there’s so much spread down the grid. I love jeopardy in racing, so I like to see different things happening and people struggling through but succeeding. It’s been a lot of variety in the season, I know Max won a lot of races but there has, despite that, been a lot of variety. So I think that’s good."

He added:

"Good to see Max secure a championship without any argument. I was quite happy that he won it last year, actually – which is probably controversial, but Formula 1 is a sport of jeopardy. It always has been. Nothing’s fair in Formula 1. I’ve been on the wrong side of fairness many, many times and then [on] the right side of good luck as well."

Paddy Lowe spent more than 30 years in F1, working in high-level roles for Williams, McLaren, and Mercedes, and was part of seven championship-winning teams.

Fans of the Brackley-based team might not have liked what Lowe had to say as he is a former team member, and the controversies surrounding Max Verstappen's win in 2021 were major.

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Mercedes wants to provide Lewis Hamilton with a car 'to fight for victories' in 2023 F1 season

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently interacted with the media and stated that they are aiming to give Lewis Hamilton a car that can fight for the top spot in races.

The 2022 Mercedes W13 was deemed 'not good enough' by fans, experts, and the team alike as Hamilton, for the first time in his illustrious career, ended without a single win all season. While the Briton said that he was not bothered with losing that record, Wolff gave his take on the topic and said:

"I don't think that this particular record is an important one for him, but we need to provide him with a car next year that he can fight for victories and the championship [with]. That's most important, and he knows that."

Mercedes' W13, however, started showing signs of promise at the end of the campaign. The Brackley-based outfit will be hoping that it can continue the development seen in the W13 during the year.