Marko: Mercedes must accept F1 title defeat after making a 'mistake'
Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to the world title in controversial circumstances after a late Saf🐻ety Car period set up a one-lap shoot-out and left Hamilton under threat from Verstappen despite dominat꧋ing the race.
Red Bull called Verstappen in to the pits for fresh softs under the Safety Car, while Mercedes did not have enough of a gap to bring Hamilton in and retain his lead, meaning he stayed out on very old hard tyres for the fina😼l lap.
Verstappen passed Hamꦜilton at Turnꦿ 5 once the race restarted and went on to clinch his maiden F1 world championship.
Mercedes believes 🐈the normal Safety Car procedures were not followed in Abu Dhabi and is cur𝓀rently weighing up whether to push ahead with an appeal against the race stewards’ decision to dismiss its initial protest.
“I can𝔉 under♛stand that they are unhappy,” Marko told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“But what I don’t understand is: they had the possibility also to go to the pits. The൩y didn’t. So it was their mistake.
“And to influence Michael Masi, the race director, not to give a safety car. That’s not in t꧅heir competence.
"We were really disappointed to see that they showed up with a barrister, one of the highest-paid barristers from En𒁃gland, to ꧃show up to the last race.
"We take the best paid engineers to the race to get out the maxiꦗmum of the car. So the way they acted after the race iཧs for us not really understandable.
"We understand the frustration - they believed until one lap from the end they would be accepted. If you lose, you have ꧋to accept it.”
Meanwhile, Marko believes Verstappen will only continue to get better following his first world title success and has bacജked the Dutchman to win more championships.
"He is a driver who I'm sure is not at the end of his abilities," Marko added.&nbsওp;
"We saw his qualifying performance at the last two races, in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi. He did qualifying 🔥laps that were so much more than the car could deliver.
"And that's why we believe we haven't seen the climax of Max Verstappen. The more he wins, the more re🧔laxed he gets⛎."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for wuqi𝔉an0821.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in꧟ the sport.
