Lewis Hamilton's F1 future cloudy after Mercedes withdraw appeal

Mercedes F1 star Lewis Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff have reportedly been left 'disillusioned' by the outcome of Sunday night's season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Max Verstappen won the world championship by passing Hamilton on the final lap of the race, capitalising on fresh tyres he was able to take under a late race safety car.

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Controversy surrounding race director Michael Masi's instructions to the safety car and a group of five lapped cars in between Verstappen and Hamilton prior to the final lap resulted in an appeal against the result being lodged by Mercedes after the race.

Nearly a week later though, the Mercedes team has opted to withdraw their protest in the wake of the FIA announcing a thorough review into the final laps of the race and the procedures taken to set up the thrilling final lap battle between Hamilton and Verstappen.

Wolff announced that he and Hamilton would not be attending this year's FIA gala awards in Paris next week, despite attendance being required by the top three drivers of the season.

Asked whether Hamilton, who turns 37 in January, would be back next year, Wolff indicated that was not a certainty.

"I would very much hope Lewis continues racing because he is the greatest driver of all-time," he said.

"As a racer, his heart will say, 'I need to continue' because he's at the peak of his game.

"But we have to overcome the pain that was caused upon him on Sunday. He is a man with clear values."

Despite Mercedes deciding to withdraw their appeal, Wolff was clearly still furious over how the safety car period had played out.

He accused Masi and the FIA of taking a 'freestyle reading' of the rules, while also adding that the very late decision to allow the cars between Verstappen and Hamilton to unlap themselves had made the Mercedes star a 'sitting duck'.

"The decisions that have been taken in the last four minutes of this race have robbed Lewis Hamilton of a deserved world championship.

"His driving in the last four races was faultless. He had a commanding lead on Sunday in Abu Dhabi from the get-go.

"He won the start and never gave the lead away again, and robbing him in the last lap of the race is unacceptable.

"We believe we had a very strong case and if you looked at it from the legal side how it would have been judged in a regular court it is almost guaranteed that we would have won.

"But the problem with the FIA 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."

Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff unhappy with FIA's decision making process

Wolff continued his remarkably frank criticism of the FIA after a season often dominated by controversial stewarding decisions and contested interpretations of the rules.

The frequent clashes between Hamilton and Verstappen throughout the season, most notably at the British GP and Saudi Arabian GP, built a frosty dynamic between the two drivers and their teams.

The Mercedes team boss indicated he and Hamilton had lost some faith in F1's governing bodies as a result of last weekend's controversy.

“Lewis and I are disillusioned at the moment", he said.

"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."

A 'detailed analysis and clarification exercise' has been announced by the FIA after controversy sparked by the final few laps and race director Michael Masi's instructions under the safety car.

When the all-clear was given to resume racing, Wolff told the Australian over the radio: "Michael, this isn't right!"

Yet even after Wolff complained again, Masi stood his ground, defending his decision with the sharp response: "It's called a motor race. We went car racing."

Red Bull chief Christian Horner, naturally, praised Masi's decision to let racing recommence, saying: "The race director in difficult circumstances made absolutely the right call."

However the result, and the explanations given by F1 thus far, have still left fans with questions to have answered.

With AAP

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