"Mercedes f*cked up": F1 team principal gives his take on the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP debacle that cost Lewis Hamilton his 8th title

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner reportedly feels that Mercedes cost Lewis Hamilton his eighth world title back in 2021. The 2021 F1 season was arguably one of the most thrilling and controversial in recent F1 history. Both Hamilton and Max Verstappen raced valiantly against each other, so much so that the title was decided on the very last lap of the season.

Speaking to Sky’s A League Of Their Own gameshow, the Red Bull team principal stated that Mercedes left Lewis Hamilton in a tricky situation during the safety car period at the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP. The seven-time world champion was on old tires, while Max Verstappen was on fresh softs, ready to pounce. Horner said:

“I have absolutely no idea. Mercedes f*cked up. They left poor Lewis out there on tyres that had done pretty much most of the race and we’d pitted with Max, so he was on a fresh set of tyres. Max made the move and…”

Furthermore, Christian Horner also mentioned that Verstappen had a cramp during the last lap of the race but still managed to overtake Hamilton on the hairpin corner, something Red Bull was not expecting. After the hairpin, the Dutchman was tried to wake his left foot up in time to hit the brakes for the next chicane as well. Horner shared:

“The interesting thing is where Max passed him – it caught Lewis completely by surprise. After the race, Max told us he didn’t intend to overtake him there but he got cramp behind the Safety Car and he couldn’t feel his left foot properly, so he thought: ‘Oh, f*ck it, I’m going [for it] anyway.’ And then, when they were going down the straight, he was trying to wake his left foot up to hit the brakes for the next chicane.”

Max Verstappen won his first world championship in 2021. To this day, there are massive debates amongst F1 fans about whether Verstappen deserved the title or not, mainly because former FIA race director Michael Masi took some controversial decisions during the safety car period.

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Lewis Hamilton on how Max Verstappen was cruising at the front of the grid in 2023

Lewis Hamilton is no stranger to dominance in Formula 1. The Brit has won seven world championships in his career and has dominated with Mercedes in the turbo hybrid era.

When it comes to Max Verstappen's recent success, Hamilton stated that the Red Bull driver has not yet been challenged properly by anyone in the past couple of years.

In a conversation with The Race talking about the Red, Lewis Hamilton said:

“I don’t think we have ever really truly pushed them … maybe Austin we were the closest, but even then I think they still always had a tenth or two on us at the bare minimum. You go through lap times and some of the data from Max, and you can see he is chilling at the front more often than not. I don’t think he has broken a sweat during the year."

Max Verstappen ended the 2023 F1 season winning his third consecutive drivers' world title by scoring 575 points in total.