Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he was never worried that Lewis Hamilton might decide to quit Formula 1 altogether in the wake of the devastating events at the end of the 2021 campaign.
Hamilton lost his bid for an eighth world championship when Max Verstappen beat him in a final lap shootout at Abu Dhabi. The team appealed the result and the decisions of race director Michael Masi but lost, and decided not to proceed with a formal protest while the FIA conducted a full review into events
Hamilton dropped off social media for two months after the race and only returned in the last few days, sparking rumours that he was so dissatisfied with the way the race had been officiated that he might quit F1 altogether.
But speaking to BBC Radio on Friday morning ahead of the team's formal 2022 car launch, Wolff said this was never realistic.
"I knew that he’s going to come back," Wolff said, adding that he “was never worried” about Hamilton quitting.
"You have to respect the driver is disillusioned after such events, but we have a strong team and a great support," he explained. "He needed some time to reflect. He comes back, he’s strong, I see he’s in good spirits.
"He had to walk away and free his mind and think about something else, and then start in a way working on those events and trying to find a solution, a mental solution for himself.
“Like all of us in the team, there was an initial shock," Wolff explained about how and the team had reacted to the loss in the final race of 2021. I mean, it’s Formula 1, we must not forget it’s not global politics.
"But for us to be living in that microcosm it was absolutely shocking. We’ve never seen anything like that," he continued, admitting that everyone had been disillusioned for days and weeks after.
“We all were because why we love this sport is that the stopwatch never lies and the honesty about it," Wolff said. “He was clearly the best guy on track on [the day] - not even the best, he was dominating the whole race.
"And then that’s been taken away by a decision of a single individual against all rules. So in a way, to kind of digest that is very difficult.”
Masi's decisions on the night meant that it was difficult for Mercedes to have any faith in the fairness of officiating in the future.
But Wolff said that Hamilton had never made it a condition of his return that Masi be replaced as race director for the forthcoming season, as happened yesterday.
“I think it was not about the race director or anybody else, it was about Lewis making peace with how the race ended," Wolff insisted. “For him it’s all about justice, sporting fairness, and that wasn’t the case."
While Wolff and his team welcomed the outcome of the FIA's review into the Abu Dhabi GP and the replacement of Masi by Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, he said that more than anything they just wanted to put it behind them and start anew.
"Most important is that we move on," he said. “There was so much discussion about the Abu Dhabi event - for the right reasons, because how the Grand Prix ended is not how a Formula 1 world championship should end - but the FIA has put in some good new structures, and we are happy about that.”
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