Toto Wolff and Christian Horner agree that the 2021 F1 championship should end in a fair way in Abu Dhabi GP as they speak more on their chances.
With how the 2021 F1 season has panned out to be, everyone is praying for a clean end to the Abu Dhabi GP at the front between Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. They have already provided much content for years to come.
The happenings in Saudi Arabia, though, only added to the bad taste list. After the off-track comments from Wolff and Horner before the grand prix weekend, the race and post-race drama was solely provided by Hamilton and Verstappen.
As a result of which they are now tied on points heading into the 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi. From results point of view, it is advantage Hamilton but from points side, the Dutchman has the upperhand as he has more wins than the Brit.
In case of an incident for both, it will be Verstappen as the new F1 champion. But both Wolff and Horner are looking at a cleaner end to the championship and not decided in the gravel trap and or in the stewards room by way of a penalty.
Wolff:
Rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen:
Wolff: “I don’t think we need to keep a lid on it. The emotions are running very high. There is a lot of respect between the teams, also for the achievements, and that’s why as long as we have a clean race, fighting for a driver world championship in Abu Dhabi, it was a great season. The quicker car with the quicker driver should win the championship, and not by taking each other off.”
Confidence of things going well in Abu Dhabi:
Wolff: “What is my confidence? I can’t tell you, because I would hope that Saudi Arabia race has enough repercussions that everyone is going to learn from it, and adapt for the final race in Abu Dhabi. I think that similar driving, if it were to be deemed by the stewards as over the line, would then probably also be penalised in Abu Dhabi, and that could well end in a messy situation for everybody. And I don’t think that the championship has deserved a result which was influenced by a collision. I very much, in that case, I trust into the self-regulating system.”
Constructors’ seem to sorted:
Wolff: “I think the constructors’ championship, we made a decent step, a really good one. But one must not forget that we are just equal points. So we are all cheery today, and that’s good, because you have to enjoy these moments. But now it’s all or nothing in Abu Dhabi. Whoever wins the race, wins the championship. Therefore it’s important now to stay both feet on the ground, keep working, and hopefully bring the performance that we had in Saudi Arabia onto Abu Dhabi.”
Horner:
Morale after back-to-back defeats:
Horner: “There’s absolutely no issue with that, we’re a team that goes through it. We’re going to Abu Dhabi equal on points, but leading by virtue of the number of wins, who’d have thought at the beginning of the year, if you had given us this chance of one shot to win this world championship in Abu Dhabi at the last race after 21 races of an intense battle with Mercedes, I think we all as a team have absolutely bitten your arm off for that. I think you guys probably would have as well, based on the dominance that we’ve seen the last seven years.
“It’s the first time since we were last there in 2012, and 2010 with Sebastian, that rival teams have gone into the final race fighting for the drivers World Championship, so there’ll be no problem in raising morale going into this final weekend. It’s been a crazy Saudi Arabia race, we actually came out of it with a second place, we managed to get ourselves into a lead, lead a large percentage of the race once again. But Lady luck’s shining on Lewis at the moment. Ocon drove over his front wing at the start, he drove into the back of Max. You know, he’s ridden his luck.”
How to approach and mindset:
Horner: “I think it’s winner takes all isn’t it? Whoever finishes ahead is the world champion, so let’s see. We’ve got one shot at it. We’ve got to try and beat Lewis one more time this year. The performances with them at the moment, they’ve won three races on the bounce. They’re going to be very, very competitive in Abu Dhabi, I think, with the new layout. We expected them to have a big advantage on us in Saudi Arabia and we’ve fought hard, we’ve attacked the Grand Prix and I think that Max has been outstanding around here all weekend.
“Of course we do [care the way we win the title]. You want to win on the track. Not in a stewards room, not in a gravel trap. You want to win it … It’s been a tough fight all the way through the year. There’s been some fantastic racing between these two drivers, and I hope that it’s a fair and clean race in Abu Dhabi.”
Chances of doing it:
Horner: “To be honest, I mean Abu Dhabi they’ve changed again so it’s another variant to the circuits. I think, look, we’re going to Abu Dhabi, we go there tied on the world championship, leading by the virtue of race wins. It’s whoever finishes ahead. And it’s just a straight fight, as it has been all year. Now Mercedes have won three in a row, Max won two before that, who is going to come out on top this weekend? I have no idea. I think obviously we have seen the performance in recent races, the form is with Mercedes. But I think again, Max has fought like a lion in Saudi Arabia and he’s given it everything.
Constructors’ hit but drivers’ still there:
Horner: “Drivers’ is where the prestige is, it’s not where the money is. But it’s where the prestige is and that’s the one that people will remember. To the teams, ironically, the constructors’, fiscally is very important but from a prestige, a sport point of view it’s about the drivers and that’s the big one.”
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