Mercedes admits it should have let Hamilton race

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits his team should have dealt with Lewis Hamilton's tactics in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix differently.

Hamilton was attempting to back team-mate Nico Rosberg into the clutches of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen behind, with the Briton needing to win the race and have Rosberg finish fourth in order to retain his title. Mercedes, however, felt the race win was at risk from Hamilton's approach and asked the race leader to speed up.

With Hamilton aware doing so would take the pressure off Rosberg he declined, and after the race - which Hamilton won but Rosberg finished second to take the title - said he felt Mercedes should have let the two drivers race. Wolff now admits the team should have acted differently in that situation.

"In the heat of the moment, sometimes when you make decisions you get them wrong," Wolff told Sky Sports. "In our mind, the way we think, this race is giving us the same number of points as other races and we try to win that one, not considering that there was much more at stake for the drivers.

"How the race panned out, we should have communicated differently and in hindsight let them race in the way they deemed to be appropriate."

And Wolff also says keeping Hamilton happy is one of the factors Mercedes must keep in mind as it looks to recruit a replacement for Rosberg.

"He has been a great pillar in the team's success. When he came, everything changed, so he has played a role. It's very important to keep him in a good place. The dynamics between the two drivers is one of the factors we will consider."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.