NOBODY likes a sore loser, so come on Mercedes – drop the legal threat and move on.
Dragging this season out in a court battle would spoil a fantastic season and that is no good for anyone.
Mercedes have retained the constructors’ championship; Max Verstappen wins the drivers’ title. Let’s put this to bed.
The dust has now settled on Sunday’s race and, even if the verdict was turned around, it is not the sort of way Sir Lewis Hamilton would want to win his eighth title anyway.
In the run up to last Sunday’s decider, both drivers said they wanted to keep it clean and both did – it was the FIA who fudged the rules.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand Mercedes’ problem.
I felt more embarrassed by the way things unfolded at the FIA in Abu Dhabi than the two-lap procession behind the safety car at the Belgian GP, which some suggested was a crude way of fulfilling the obligation of staging the race.
But that was not Verstappen’s fault. He won the race at Spa after taking pole the previous day, just one of his 10 pole positions in 22 races.
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Just as he did at the Yas Marina. When the light went green, he went racing and won.
I think most F1 will agree – I am not including you Hamilton fans – Verstappen and Red Bull deserve their success.
Had it not been for Hamilton’s heroics, especially in Brazil, the title would have been wrapped up a while ago.
Everyone wanted this championship to be decided on the track rather than by the stewards – put this nonsense to bed and we can all say it was.
Verstappen has been sensational this year and has been backed up by his team, and indeed his teammate.
Red Bull are the only team to take the fight to Mercedes this season where they were fully committed.
They did it while adjusting to the new cost-cap, and while splitting their resources to develop their 2022 challenger when the sport will see its biggest regulation change.
Verstappen too has had his bad luck.
The blow out in Azerbaijan was a big one. The five-place grid drop in Qatar and the “rogue marshal” with their yellow flag, was equally galling.
If you ask me too, I’d say Hamilton was fortunate on lap one in Abu Dhabi not to have been told to surrender that place when he went off track under pressure from Verstappen.
But all of this is water under the bridge. Now is the time to move on to 2022 and for Merc to drop it and have the good grace to say publicly, ‘fair enough, well done Max’, as Toto Wolff has done, only in private.
