Mercedes tried to ‘discredit’ Max Verstappen’s F1 title, Christian Horner claims

Verstappen secured his maiden Drivers’ Championship after passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the season

Christian Horner (left) has accused Mercedes of trying to diminish the achievement of Max Verstappen (PA Wire)

Christian Horner has accused Mercedes of using a “concerted campaign” in an attempt to “discredit” the achievement of Max Verstappen after the Dutchman claimed his maiden Formula 1 world title.

Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton to race and overall victory at the season ending 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix under controversial circumstances.

After a period behind the safety car, Verstappen was able to launch a Drivers’ Championship-winning move on the final lap of the season after a contentious ruling from race director Michael Masi.

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It was an ending to a thrilling season-long title battle that left Hamilton “disillusioned”, with an FIA investigation bringing significant changes to the sport’s in-race operation - including the removal of Masi from a role he had held since 2019.

However Red Bull boss Horner believes that Mercedes’ complaints were part of an effort to diminish the achievement of first-time champion Verstappen, and suggested that the German team only have themselves to blame for losing out on the world title.

“I felt what was going on behind the scenes over the Christmas period was a bit underhand,” Horner told The Mail on Sunday. “The pressure that was put on the FIA, the positioning, the pressure that was put on the race director, to try to discredit what we had achieved.

“The reality was Michael Masi didn’t break their own rules. Mercedes had all the same strategic options available that we did, they made a mistake strategically not pitting Lewis [Hamilton] at the virtual safety car but then expecting him to be able to defend on 44-lap-old tyres.

“He was always going to be massively exposed by the team electing to leave him out despite the fact he was questioning that call. At the point the decision was made to pit, it was entirely probable that all the lapped cars would be allowed to unlap and that the race would get going again because, looking at the size of the accident, it wasn’t a big accident.

“Mercedes hung him out to dry a little bit by expecting him to be able to defend on 44-lap-old tyres. In the aftermath of that, there was a concerted campaign by our rivals to discredit our achievement, even to the point of the FIA prize-giving, and it is a tactic that has been employed by Mercedes in other championships as well.”

Horner’s Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff did not attend the FIA prize-giving ceremony, with technical director James Allison instead collecting the Constructors’ Championship, which the manufacturer retained for an eighth successive year.

Hamilton had refused to commit to a return to F1 until after the FIA’s report, before eventually confirming that he will be back on the grid to again target a record eighth world title.

In the heat of battle and the disappointment of defeat, Hamilton had suggested that the result was “manipulated”, a statement echoed by sections of Formula 1’s swelling fanbase, with some claiming that the need for a compelling storyline had been prioritised over due process.

Horner believes that those making that accusation are mistaken, and thinks that Masi was right in his actions.

The Red Bull team principal explained: “As for the idea that the result was influenced by the need for entertainment over sport, I don’t agree with that, either.

“I don’t think the [Netflix documentary] Drive to Survive director was sitting in race control saying, ‘We need this to finish now’. It has always been clear that it was never good to finish a race under a safety car and that every effort would be made to ensure that didn’t happen because it is the biggest anti-climax that sporting viewers can have.

‘For us, it was always clear there was an extreme probability that the race would get restarted. That did not have anything to do with any narrative from a TV show. It was the responsibility of the race director to safely get that race restarted, which he did.”

The 2022 F1 season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix, with race day at the Sakhir circuit Sunday 20 March.