Neither Lewis Hamilton nor Toto Wolff had said a word to the general media after the season finale, with Hamilton’s only words coming from his post-race interview with former teammate Jenson Button. But on Thursday the Mercedes chief addressed that and gave his opinion, views and feelings towards the situation regarding the use of the Safety Car and how the rules were not followed, ultimately costing Hamilton an eighth world title:

“It wasn’t just a case of a bad call. It was freestyle reading of the rules and it left Lewis like a sitting duck.

“We deeply believe in that, in Formula 1, the pinnacle of motor racing, one of the most important sports in the world, justice isn’t being done.

“My soul and my heart prize with every bone that this should have been judged in the right way and a legal situation would have given us right.”

Wolff proceeded to talk about why Mercedes withdrew the appeal, if they felt so strong about it, highlighting a “problem” with the International Court of Appeal:

“We believe we had a very strong case and if you look at it from the legal side, if it would have been judged in a regular court, it was almost guaranteed that we would have won.

We appealed in the interest of sporting fairness, and we have since been in a constructive dialogue with the FIA and Formula 1 to create clarity for the future, so that all competitors know the rules under which they are racing, and how they will be enforced. pic.twitter.com/SCdNuFPwIb

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 16, 2021

“The problem with the ICA is the way it’s structured. The FIA can’t really mark their own homework and there is a difference between being right and obtaining justice.”

Wolff even put into question whether Hamilton will continue racing in 2022. The 7-time champion renewed his contract in July and is set to race for Mercedes until the end of 2023.

“I would very much hope that Lewis continues racing, because he is the greatest driver of all time.

“Lewis and I are disillusioned at the moment. Not disillusioned of the sport, we love the sport with every bone in our body, and we love it because the stopwatch never lies.

“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, then it’s clear that you fall out of love with it. You start to question if all the work that you have been putting in, all the sweat, tears and blood, can actually be demonstrated in terms of bringing the best possible performances on track, because it can be taken away randomly.

“When you look at it from the point of view of the last four races, he dominated on Sunday. There was not even a doubt who won the race and that was worthy of winning the world championship. So we will be working through the events over the next weeks and months.”

On Wednesday, the FIA published a statement regarding the events of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi GP, and one of the key points was the announcement of a commission to analyse what could be done in such situations at the future, taking feedback from teams and drivers. Wolff hopes it results in something concrete rather than just void talk, but admitted Hamilton “will never overcome the pain” of the loss:

“We expect the commission to not only come up with words but actually good actions and we will hold them accountable for the actions because we cannot continue in a sport that is meant to be sport followed by entertainment and not the other way around.

The reason we protested the race result on Sunday was because the Safety Car regulations were applied in a new way that affected the race result. pic.twitter.com/x8Tq4bNhHU

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 16, 2021

“We are held ransom by ad hoc decisions, in every field – technical, sport – and therefore there needs to be clear measures in place for the start of the season so every driver, every team and the fans understand what’s on and what is not on.”

“I would very much hope that the two of us and the rest of the team, we can work through the events, we can – together with the FIA and with Formula 1 – utilise the situation to improve the sport going forward. But he will never overcome the pain and the distress that was caused on Sunday.”

He concluded in a reflective mood, urging people not to lose the context of life, and that Formula One is just a sport:

“On a human level, it is extremely difficult because it is so disappointing. As I said before, we love the sport and then suddenly you’re starting to question.

“I mean, you must never lose the big context of life – this is just Formula 1, it’s just a sport, much worse things happen out there and we shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking this is the most important thing in the world.

“But it is our little microcosm and it’s a microcosm that we have been part of where we have created values and beliefs and many of those values and beliefs were kicked on Sunday.”