Former Red Bull driver turned TV commentator and presenter Mark Webber has warned that deep scars remain from the climactic 2021 title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Webber said the hugely controversial circumstances in which Verstappen beat Hamilton at the season finale in Abu Dhabi means that the wounds inflicted by one of the sport's most competitive seasons of all time still feel very raw and exposed.
Hamilton removed himself from all his social media channels for two months following his defeat, although he's now returned with a post declaring "I’ve been gone. Now I’m back!"
Even Verstappen has admitted that 2021 took a huge toll on him, telling The Guardian newspaper this week: “You can’t have that drama every single year. It’s not good for me, it’s not healthy for anyone in the team - both teams."
Webber agreed, telling Wide World of Sports this week: "It's hard. I think we need a year off. They need a year off. There's still some old scars there that need some healing.
"That might be done after their careers; they can have a red wine together," he suggested. "But while they're racing against each other, they'll be big rivals. And that's what we want in the sport."
After falling behind the Red Bull driver in the middle of the season, Hamilton was forced to stage a huge comeback campaign to go into the final race level on points with Verstappen.
Hamilton was in the lead for much of the race, but was caught out by a late safety car following Nicholas Latifi's crash. He didn't have the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres before the restart, which Verstappen did.
Hamilton's plight was made worse when race director Michael Masi allowed lapped cars to go past, leaving Verstappen right on the Mercedes' rear wing. When the race finally resumed with one lap to go, Hamilton was a sitting duck.
"He led 99 per cent of that race," said Webber. "To lose it the way he did, it doesn't matter who you are, it's a big pill to swallow.
"It was a really tough finish for him mentally," he continued. "He felt he was robbed on the last lap, because he couldn't fight. He had nothing to fight with, and it wasn't through his own doing.
"He was fighting against something that was an outside force," he added. "When it's Max Verstappen on fresh tyres it's a real challenge.”
"For the sport, we were all disappointed it ended like that. It's not how we wanted it to end. Both of them deserved to lift that trophy, but we did not want it to finish like that at all.
"We wanted a straight fight, a clean fight, and unfortunately there was one guy with his hand tied behind his back," Webber argued. "Of course, in hindsight, they would all agree we could have done something different.
"What happened wasn't the ideal scenario," he concluded.
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