Lewis Hamilton, seven-time Formula One champion, could call it quits after last Sunday’s race ended in a controversial win for Max Verstappen.
“I would very much hope that Lewis continues racing – because he is the greatest driver of all times,” Toto Wolff, team principal and co-owner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team said. “I think as a racer his heart will say he needs to continue.”
Hamilton had been going for eight. The win would’ve made him the undisputed GOAT of F1 racing passing Michael Schumacher who also won seven titles.
Hamilton was in the lead with an 11-second advantage over Verstappen when there was a crash on the track. The safety car came out and Verstappen stopped to get new tires. Hamilton kept going with the assumption that he would keep his lead over Verstappen and the cars between them that they had lapped would be enough to get him to the finish line first without new tires. And it should’ve been.
Verstappen’s Red Bull made a call to the race director, Michael Masi, and counseled him to reset the cars. Instead of resetting all the cars, Masi made a last-minute decision to take the other cars off the track and set up a dual just between Hamilton and Verstappen. Verstappen and his freshly tired car were set right behind Hamilton giving Verstappen an unfair advantage and a win.
“We are not disillusioned with the sport – we love the sport with every bone in our body, and we love it because the stopwatch never lies,” Wolff said. “But if we break that fundamental principle of sporting fairness and authenticity of the sport, then suddenly the stopwatch doesn’t become relevant anymore because we are exposed to random decision-making, that it is clear you may fall out of love with. That you start to question if all the work you have been putting in – all the sweat, tears and blood – can actually be demonstrated in terms of being the best possible performance on track, because it can be taken away randomly.”
Hamilton and Wolff will not be attending the FIA Gala in Paris on Thursday night.
