F1 | Toto Wolff's Waterloo

“What happened in Abu Dhabi was like the hand of God,” explain it to Toto Wolff that rather than suggesting a great injustice, these words inevitably lead back to genius, unconsciously bringing Verstappen closer and comparing him to Maradona.

But the powerful, no longer omnipotent, Austrian manager meant something completely different, because for weeks he has been ranting, crying, struggling, but he does it in solitude, like the village madman who screams at the sky while people pity him without dwelling too much.

Let's go in order, however, to explain why the Mercedes defeat in Abu Dhabi was not so much a defeat for the team - which achieved the eighth consecutive Constructors' World Championship - nor for Lewis Hamilton, who emerged with his head held high and certainly damaged by the improvident and anomalous decision by the inadequate Michael Masi. Because, let's be clear, the writer doesn't change his mind: Lewis was fed to Verstappen by a crazy race direction.

But then we also need to analyze the behaviors, the conduct, the facts. The latter tell us that the team principal of the Anglo-German team in the most excited phases of Yas Marina was disorganized, dramatic, melodramatic, but it could also all have been traced back to an excess of adrenaline. The problem is when it happened later, cold.

While Lewis Hamilton demonstrated the demeanor of a true champion, shaking hands with his rival, Wolff chose to make an immediate complaint against the race verdict, call an anomalous press silence and boycott any FIA initiative, from the photo shoot to celebrate the brands title to the grand gala Paris.

He then broke the silence with a very harsh message in which he spoke of the stolen world championship, and explained that the team had given up on appealing to the FIA ​​World Council “because it wouldn't have been nice to win like that, in court”.

This seemed like the end of a bad story, in which the FIA ​​didn't come out well, where only the two great champions who fought throughout the year were saved. And instead, after a few hours of silence, here are the words on the theft of the century, the hand of God, with new attacks launched by the implacable Wolff.

And this is where the donkey falls, this is where the great defeat of a great winner but terrible loser is certified. The hypocritical and formal acceptance of the result, the renunciation of the appeal, the fake sportsmanship, count for nothing if the inconsistency of the accusations prevails, because at a certain point for composure, depth, role, image, one must be consistent with the just act.

And the conclusive facts tell us that Mercedes accepted the verdict when it formally renounced its appeal to the World Council. It therefore makes no sense to continue whining and alluding to the theft of the century. If Mercedes had been so convinced of "taking" the world championship, probably out of coherence and respect for its fans and Hamilton it would have had to take legal action up to the CAS.

There is no point in continuing to talk about the theft of the century if you then choose not to even undergo the second degree of judgment. If Wolff was so sure he could have reached the CAS of Lausanne, the Supreme Court of Sport, a body recognized by the IOC, to which the FIA ​​adheres.

The truth, probably, is that Wolff was blocked in his intentions by the common sense of the Mercedes leaders, perhaps Hamilton, or even Ineos. Because as the days went by, the defeat in Abu Dhabi increasingly seemed to become a settling of scores between the FIA, Red Bull, the whole world and Toto Wolff, who, despite his team being damaged, came out of this affair very badly.

The influential manager gave the idea of ​​the arrogant person on duty to whom everything is owed, not a good image. Probably the wildest ambition does not contemplate defeat, but even Napoleon had to stop his advance in Europe. Falling after all is an essential part of human nature, but you also need to know how to fall and Wolff did not demonstrate the same depth and attitude in defeat as when he wins.

Antonino Rendina

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