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Formula One F1 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 10, 2022 Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko speaks with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead of the second practice session REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
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Formula One F1 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 10, 2022 Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko speaks with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ahead of the second practice session REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
As Max Verstappen emerges as the champion again this season, Mercedes man, Lewis Hamilton, made comments about Max’s first title win in Abu Dhabi last year. And it is not going down well with the Red Bull team.
In last year’s season finale, Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton in the final lap. However, the win was followed by controversies due to the safety car drama on the track. This matter escalated so much so that the seven-time champion accused the results to have been rigged.
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Lewis Hamilton not only believed that the results last year were “manipulated,” but still continues to hold on to that thought today. In an interview with Timo Glock for Sky Sports, Hamilton shared, “Someone made a decision for that result [in Abu Dhabi] to be the way it was, basically.”
As this report circulated in the F1 media, Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko was questioned about his thoughts in response to Lewis Hamilton’s accusatory remarks. And Helmut was quick to shun them.
Talking to Sky Sports Germany, he said, “Well, I don’t understand that at all. The race director decided. The fact that two cars were not unlapped would not have made any difference.”
“We are looking forward. The championship has been decided. We cannot keep bringing up this subject,” he concluded.
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As Helmut Marko urged Hamilton to stop living in the past, Lewis, however, had a lot to get off of his chest regarding the way things unraveled the previous year.
Lewis Hamilton believes 2021 Abu Dhabi GP was ‘manipulated’
The seven-time champ did not shy away from stating things the way he viewed them. In Hamilton’s opinion, the result of the Abu Dhabi race wasn’t a fair one, to say the least.
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Formula One F1 – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – November 19, 2022 Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ahead of practice REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel
Back in 2008, Lewis passed Timo Glock on the last corner of the last lap of the Brazilian GP to take P5 and win his first championship by one point. While he was recently in a conversation with Glock, the German professional racing driver asked him if his 2008 championship win was similar to that of Verstappen’s 2021 win.
To this, Lewis replied, “No, it was different, it was different because this one [Brazil 2008] wasn’t manipulated by anybody.”
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That answer from the Briton is enough for the fans to understand his stance on the 2021 final race. But with clashing views all around, what is your opinion on the 2021 title decider?