Mercedes have put the car from Lewis Hamilton’s controversial 2021 championship defeat on display in the lobby at their factory.
Hamilton last drove the W12 when he lost the world championship to Max Verstappen in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.The outcome of the race was notoriously swung when race director Michael Masi broke the rules by arranging a restart on the final lap without having allowed all lapped cars to rejoin the lead lap. Masi was replaced and left the FIA the following year.
Mercedes were outraged by the conclusion to the championship, which cost Hamilton a record-breaking eighth world championship, and unsuccessfully protested the handling of the race. They decided against taking the matter to the International Court of Appeal but Hamilton and team principal Toto Wolff refused to appear at the FIA’s prize giving gala.
The team has endured three largely unsuccessful seasons since then. Hamilton is set to join Ferrari at the end of the year. Now the team has put the car from the controversial 2021 finale on display at the reception of their factory in Brackley.
Wolff said the team intended to remember the highs and lows of that season by putting the W12 on display. “It’s a special car because it’s also a car that turned the situation around after Brazil, where we thought the championship is gone, and it was a very good car for the summer,” he told High Performance. “And it is a car that reminds all of us that things could go wrong very quickly, but things could be right also very quickly.
“It’s basically how life goes. And that car’s a stark reminder of all the joy and all the pain a situation can bring with it.”
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He admitted he still thinks about the circumstances of Hamilton’s 2021 championship defeat “every week.”
“There were instances during the year where Max lost some points that he shouldn’t have lost. You look at Silverstone, you look at the crash in Monza both of them had. So both deserving champions. But on that particular afternoon in Abu Dhabi, it was unfair.”
Wolff has sharply criticised Masi’s handling of the championship and accused him of disrespecting drivers. He said he tried to assist the race director, who took over the role following his predecessor Charlie Whiting’s death two years earlier.
“I really tried to speak to Michael and guide him all along the year and speak to him and say, listen, I’ve been in this sport for a long time, listen to the drivers, don’t always be stubborn in your decision-making, don’t be arrogant.
“I tried that for the good of the sport and obviously also for us as a team, not to be vulnerable to situations that could be totally detrimental. So in that sense, just what happened is inexcusable.
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“Now, you could say the empathy should make me realise how he feels. I realise how he feels and I know that’s not good, and bad. But he could have thought about it all year long when people, not only me, tried to support [him] in the right way.
“So sometimes you have to just realise that someone is just doing his own thing or taking his own decisions. For me, I don’t care about it any more.”
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Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
11th November 2024, 13:06
The W12 is a championship winning car, Mercedes won the constructors in 2021. It should have been on display straightaway after Abu Dhabi. I have no idea regarding Mercedes 2021 constructors title ?
Red Andy (@red-andy)
11th November 2024, 17:30
Indeed, and their eighth in a row, a feat that will (hopefully) never be repeated.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th November 2024, 18:40
And they didn’t luck on any of those championships, they were won on merit, as in the car was always good enough: dominant in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, ofc slightly less in 2019, the clear best car in 2017 even though there was some sort of championship battle, marginally the best car in 2021 and the joint-best car in 2018, in my opinion there’s not a single year where there was a better car than merc overall, in any of those seasons.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th November 2024, 13:22
A valid argument for having W12 on display out of all.
I never realized or could’ve thought that Toto tried to guide & or give advice to him or anything along these lines, so something unknown for nearly three years since the infamous race.
Unfortunately, Masi didn’t bother to stop being stubborn, but at least he hasn’t been the RD ever since that infamous championship decider.
Mayrton
11th November 2024, 13:32
I heard that at RedBull they did the same with their 2021 car as a reminder of no matter how rigged a championship can be and no matter what they throw at you, there is always a chance you’ll come out on top anyway. Brasil 2024 certainly proved that and reminded them of why they have this 2021 car there. Again rigged in an attempt to stop them winning.
2021 was a season in which the championship should have been wrapped up around the summer break. The powers that be, decided otherwise however. An unparalleled in-season tire change that benefitted the rear end of the Mercedes brought them back in contention (1) and enabled them to fight again. Had that not happened the season would have been over. Then there was Silverstone where Mercedes both took their competitor out and were treated very leniently (2), wing-gate (3), clipping RB pit-stop advantage (4), the widely spread slander campaign trying to discredit the competition (5), bowling Bottas (6) and last but not least Mercedes misuse of the engines restrictions regulations (7), mounting rockets in the back to their car. All in all a good thing to display this car as sign that perseverance pays off.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
11th November 2024, 18:00
pretty much.
king making or getting people to believe in idols is a many millennium old tradition. and it requires manipulation of the highest order, ie allowing people to walk on water i terms of not being held accountable for horrible driving, playing games with stage props, and establishing narratives via the chorus/media.
Timmy
11th November 2024, 20:10
Imagine beleiving such drivel, and then imagine being so pathetic that you write it out under two accounts without being smart enough to realise…
@Ferdiand @Mayrton
KaIIe (@kaiie)
12th November 2024, 6:15
“An unparalleled in-season tire change that benefitted the rear end of the Mercedes brought them back in contention”
There have been plenty of such changes. 2003, 2011 and 2013 come to mind.
André
12th November 2024, 22:40
It’s always convenient to cite only the events that suit your argument, and overlook all the measures throughout the V6 hybrid era to try to stop Mercedes from winning. You shouldn’t forget that Mercedes started 2021 handicapped by the regulation change around the rear brake duct and floor. That took away rear down force and favoured Redbull’s high rake design. That’s the main reason why Redbull started 2021 competitive. Throughput that era, there was no sourer competitor to Mercedes than Redbull, who tried all their political tricks to take performance away from Mercedes via the regulations.
banirashid
13th November 2024, 21:08
Hamiton the champion 2021
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
14th November 2024, 2:49
“F1 Owner Liberty Media CEO To Leave Role Imminently”
Ferdinand
11th November 2024, 14:39
I heard that at RedBull they did the same with their 2021 car as a reminder of no matter how rigged a championship can be and no matter what they throw at you, there is always a chance you’ll come out on top anyway. Brasil 2024 certainly proved that and reminded them of why they have this 2021 car there. Again rigged in an attempt to stop them winning.
2021 was a season in which the championship should have been wrapped up around the summer break. The powers that be, decided otherwise however. An unparalleled in-season tire change that benefitted the rear end of the Mercedes brought them back in contention (1) and enabled them to fight again. Had that not happened the season would have been over. Then there was Silverstone where Mercedes both took their competitor out and were treated very leniently (2), wing-gate (3), clipping RB pit-stop advantage (4), the widely spread slander campaign trying to discredit the competition (5), bowling Bottas (6) and last but not least Mercedes misuse of the engines restrictions regulations (7), mounting rockets in the back to their car. All in all a good thing to display this car as sign that perseverance pays off.
T
11th November 2024, 18:42
ladies and gentlemen, we got ’em
next time you see Ferdinand and Mayrton in thread, remember they’re the exact same person
While you’re here, what you read above has no proof nor can be corroborated. “I heard” is the weasel phrase doing the Olympic level lifting for this wishful musing
carry on with your day/night
SteveP
11th November 2024, 19:30
Again with the truth distorting?
Max turned about 0.5-1.0 seconds too early, doing one of his dramatic chop across moves. Without that move, the racing would have continued for a number of laps, maybe the whole race.
I feel sure that you’re not trying to cover the honest side of that and discuss the RBR wings vibrating like a bee’s wing, but rather trying to single out Merc front wing when everyone was, and still is, flexing those. Probably a reference to an RBR driver getting fined for being stupid enough to touch another car.
As I recall, it was Horner and Marko screaming about attempted murder – a total untruth lapped up by the anti-LH brigade.
Ah, yes. The instance of a rash young man overtaking Bottas on the right, in the wet, shifting left to take the better line and braking sharply directly in front of Bottas. Don’t recall, was it Russell?
Lesson of that day? Brake testing someone in the wet is not a race winning tactic. It doesn’t do wonders for others in the vicinity either.
Today’s lesson?
You have been rumbled.
Ludewig
11th November 2024, 14:40
Isn’t the issue that Masi listened to the teams too much, since they wanted races to finish under green conditions? According to the rapport into the Abu Dhabi race, the guidance given to Masi was that he should try to finish the race under green, except “if for safety reasons it is not possible to withdraw [it].” Masi did follow this guidance, by breaking the rules in a perfectly safe way, so that the race could finish under green.
It really feels like Toto is playing us here, pretending that he and the other team principals didn’t encourage Masi into exactly the behavior that caused this outcome, and that the teams have kept throwing Masi under the bus for.
It seems to me that the teams took advantage of a weak and inexperienced race director, playing the angles as the teams do all the time. And after their politicking blew up in their faces, they just continu with the political games to shift the blame away from themselves, telling this false narrative that they really did their best to teach Masi how to follow the rules, but that he didn’t listen, rather than the truth, that they encouraged him to bend the rules at the end of a race.
baasbas
11th November 2024, 16:21
@Ludewig
That’s a too nuanced view for the internet, mister. It’s simply not polarizing enough. We need you to just pick a side here. It’s quite simple, just pick and be either obnoxious or bitter about it until the end of time..
Craig
11th November 2024, 17:59
I don’t think anyone demanded Masi to break existing rules to force a green flag finish come what may, so I never really bought this idea.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th November 2024, 18:46
There was absolutely no need to break rules, he could’ve allowed lapped cars to unlap themselves with 2-3 laps to go, when some strange message appeared instead that lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake instead.
notagrumpyfan
11th November 2024, 21:00
Too many people still think that ‘safety car in this lap’ (without the extra lap) was illegal; but it was not and that’s why Mercedes had no ground to appeal.
Partially unlapping however was not allowed under the rules. But the impact of that decision is hard assess. There was enough time to have all cars unlap themselves. Without unlapping it would’ve been very interesting though, even with blue flags overtaking the lapped car would take some time for Verstappen to start attacking Hamilton.
Wooky
11th November 2024, 21:16
it was illegal, hence the rules state that SC stays out one more lap after lapped cars go around. also all cars should have unlapped, its a double rule break.
Jack
11th November 2024, 22:48
If it was illegal then Mercedes would have challenged it in court?
notagrumpyfan
12th November 2024, 19:16
You are wrong on the first part!
– according to the rules RD could call in the SC when he deems it fit. The rules might be ‘ambiguous’ (words from the formal report), but that’s what it is.
– the second part is correct (as I stated above)
Wooky
12th November 2024, 9:13
there is no if “Jack”. Even the FIA admitted breaking the 1 more lap rule in their report months later.
notagrumpyfan
12th November 2024, 19:18
You are mistaken! Just read the report; in the end the RD was free to decide when to call in the SC.
Craig
13th November 2024, 15:06
@notagrumpyfan you can only come to this conclusion if you very deliberately misunderstand the rules. Yes, the race director is free to decide when the safety car is called in, but that means he then follows THE FULL PROCESS of bringing the safety car in which includes allowed any (not ‘any selected’ ones, ‘any’ period) lapped cars to pass the safety car and be given a lap to catch back up. This did not happen.
PeteB (@peteb)
11th November 2024, 15:55
Couldn’t care less about a season 3 years ago. Everything’s already been said. I’m much more interested in the present day. It appears we’re not going to get an article about it on here but, Toto’s recent comments were fascinating.
Firstly he talked about Lewis leaving for Ferrari and suggested if Lewis had quit earlier, he’d have tried to negotiate with Lando or Leclerc but the announcement came too late and they’d already signed deals.
“It also didn’t give me any time to react, I had to emergency call our partners, and I possibly missed out on negotiating with other drivers who had signed contracts a few weeks earlier like Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.”
Then he goes on to talk about he he’s glad that Lewis is leaving because he was already thinking about replacing him:
“There’s a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract. We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life. I like the situation. It helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport’s most iconic driver that we want to stop.”
Incredible comments really… Firstly to publicly suggest Antonelli wasn’t your ideal driver and secondly to suggest Hamilton might be past his shelf life.
sam
11th November 2024, 17:45
No matter what the Max fans say, the 2021 Championship was stolen from one driver and gifted to another.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
11th November 2024, 17:56
yes, but to be fare, f1 hasnt really been that great since Bridgestone left, liberty came in, and big money started squeezing the value and credibility from f1.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th November 2024, 18:48
You don’t have to be a verstappen fan to say he was the more deserving across the season, why else would he have been voted best driver on this website, which has many hamilton fans?
He simply made less mistakes and threw away less points, let’s say hamilton didn’t have any control on what masi did and verstappen didn’t have any control on the baku exploding tyre: then hamilton threw away 18-25 points in baku with the brake magic, and had a very off weekend in monaco, lost definitely several points there, while I don’t see which other points verstappen could’ve got.
SteveP
11th November 2024, 19:37
True. It was the team that under-inflated it.
The Pirelli report skirted round those precise words so closely, they said it, without actually saying it.
Wooky
11th November 2024, 21:18
“ou don’t have to be a verstappen fan to say he was the more deserving across the season,”
titles are given by the rules, not who deserved it more. by the rules Lewis won that one. also remember rosberg’s title? I remember how same anti hamilton fans went around saying it doesnt matter Lewis deserved it more
Doh
14th November 2024, 7:11
He made a bunch of mistakes and went over the line many times in the last 4 races and also the start of the season too. But people forget them all. Arguably he could’ve avoided Silverstone too, and self admission in Monza paired with poor racing standards all take a few points off. I feel they were about even over the whole season if including all metrics which people like to leave out.
flyingD
11th November 2024, 19:34
@Sam
There are just 2 words missing in your sentence. It should say
“the 2021 Championship was just about stolen from one driver”
(at Siverstone)
SteveP
11th November 2024, 19:45
Ah Silverstone 2021, yes, it’s on video.
A driver came a cropper after he did his signature chop across move too soon; fortunately, the damage to the other car was repairable in the red flag period, and the flamboyant driver came to no harm at all had a quiet afternoon at UHCW imaging dept.
baasbas
12th November 2024, 13:48
@SteveP
You just said it’s on video. I suggest you look at it once more. There was no chop. There are even overlays between the Hamilton-Verstappen and Hamilton-Leclerc situation. It is a fact Verstappen left more room in the inside than Leclerc. Still, no crash between Leclerc and Hamilton and the reason should be obvious. Stop making things up
SteveP
12th November 2024, 19:30
Making nothing up.
I’ve even watched people doing slo-mo analysis, and it’s a fact Lewis was pushing the limits being that close in to the curve, and it’s a fact Max made a rapid movement right too soon.
A fraction later, there would have been no contact.
At that time, there was no guidance on the relative positions that would help apportion relative blame and the stewards put something together apportioning slightly more to Lewis, and he got a penalty from it.
Under the current setup, he would have been awarded the right to be there and there would be no penalty.
baasbas
13th November 2024, 12:11
@SteveP
I probably shouldn’t but I’ll bite: right to be there? What are you on about? There was enough space for Hamilton to be there on the inside. The overlay with Leclerc shows that even with less space there was still enough for him to be there. I really don’t know where you’re getting your facts from
SteveP
13th November 2024, 18:20
@baasbas
The regulations of the time didn’t specify how far alongside you had to be to have the other driver allow you space, they do now.
The phrase used by one TP that weekend was: “he had no business poking his nose in there” on a corner like that…
Which, while true under the regs that year (changed with RD guidance for later races) is actually what his driver was doing regularly when the positions were reversed. And still does.
and if you look I believe you will find that LH took a wider line, earlier in the corner approach having learned that someone pushing the limits might cause a contact with him, meanwhile Leclerc didn’t aim for the apex as soon as he could.
baasbas
13th November 2024, 18:31
@SteveP
And there we are.. we didn’t even need to pry for long but there is the issue..
Tristan
11th November 2024, 19:43
Shouldn’t even be possible. Probably back fired. Listen to the drivers, don’t be stubborn? That’s wrong.
Follow the rule book 100%. You have to be stubborn if you’re a referee or umpire or steward, let alone race director. You can’t just be letting things go because a participant wants it to.
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
11th November 2024, 23:01
Agree, the whole idea of team personnel talking to the Race Director, lobbying for certain decisions is nuts.
Hearing Toto explain it now, I dont know if he realises that he took the completely wrong approach in trying to “guide” Masi. Toto telling him to not be arrogant or stubborn probably made him even more arrogant..
SteveP
11th November 2024, 19:54
Gotta agree with that. With that done, MV would have had to clean up his act, and would be a better driver for it.
I liken him to Schumacher, with that tendency to mar the genius with the petulant child.
Ruben
11th November 2024, 20:06
I thought the answer to this question was either ‘Just so willing media can write a pretty little article about how about it and collect comments and clicks’ or ‘To stain some of those ‘this is how Verstappen can win the title this weekend’ articles popping up these days’.
SteveP
13th November 2024, 18:22
Give it a rest – this is the first WDC MV has had to work for, that must count for something