Thursday, March 28, 2024

Sir Lewis uncertain about F1 future

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 Sir Lewis Hamilton will not decide whether to return to Formula 1 this season until he sees the results of an inquiry into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton is ”disillusioned” with F1, his Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has said, as a result of last year’s title-deciding race.

Sir Lewis lost the championship to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after FIA race director Michael Masi did not apply the rules correctly in a late safety-car period.

Insiders say he has lost trust in the governing body as a result.

Mercedes declined to comment on the situation surrounding his future when approached by BBC Sport.

The team and Sir Lewis are said to be aligned on the issue and waiting to see what action the FIA takes to address the matters raised by the Abu Dhabi race.

The FIA has launched an inquiry into the events at Yas Marina and is aware both of his unhappiness and that it has a big task on its hands to win back the seven-time champion’s confidence.

New president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has said he has contacted Hamilton since his election five days after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“I don’t think he’s 100% ready to respond right now,” Ben Sulayem said last week. “We don’t blame him. I understand his position.”

Some senior F1 insiders are concerned that the governing body has not fully grasped the threat to its credibility created by the final race of the season.

It has been a month since the Abu Dhabi race. But when asked about the timing of the inquiry’s findings or what matters it will seek to address, the FIA said it was not yet ready to answer queries.

The FIA admitted in a statement last month that the events of Abu Dhabi were “tarnishing the image” of F1 but also said that it had “generated significant misunderstanding and reactions from F1 teams, drivers and fans”.

Announcing the inquiry, the FIA said it would be done in time for “any identified meaningful feedback and conclusions to be made before the beginning of the 2022 season”.

The first of two pre-season tests starts on February 23, while the opening race is in Bahrain on March 18-20.

The future of Masi is in doubt as a result of his handling of the race, which came at the end of a season in which there were repeated concerns among teams and drivers over the consistency of application of the rules.

One senior source told BBC Sport that Mercedes had dropped their appeal against the results of the race after agreeing a quid pro quo with the FIA.

This deal was said to be that Masi and FIA head of single-seater technical matters Nikolas Tombazis would no longer be in their positions for the 2022 season.

Mercedes deny that any such deal was reached, and insist that they dropped their appeal after receiving assurances only that the issue would be treated seriously and appropriate action would be taken by the FIA.

Wolff said last month that Mercedes would “hold the FIA to account”.

He did not clarify how he intended to do that but said he had “confidence, trust and faith” that the teams and drivers could work with the governing body to create a “more robust decision-making process”.

Several senior figures have told BBC Sport that they do not see how Masi can retain his position as race director, but some have cautioned that the FIA is in a difficult position because there is no obvious replacement.

Sir Lewis signed a new two-year contract with Mercedes last year, which in theory will keep him at the team until at least the end of 2023.

Mercedes have recruited George Russell, one of the leading lights of the new generation of drivers, as the seven-time champion’s team-mate in 2022.

The likeliest outcome is thought to be that the FIA will take significant action and that Sir Lewis will return in 2022.

But if Sir Lewis did decide to step away from F1, it is not immediately obvious who Mercedes would recruit to replace him.

Every major driver is under contract for the 2022 season and it is likely Mercedes would have to seek a deal to buy their chosen candidate out of his current commitments – as they did when they bought Valtteri Bottas out of Williams when Nico Rosberg retired after winning the 2016 world title. (BBC)

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