Toto Wolff has said Mercedes would have responded differently to Red Bull had the roles been reversed at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mercedes‘ Lewis Hamilton lost the 2021 World Championship in controversial circumstances at the season finale when then-FIA race director Michael Masi didn’t follow established procedures for the late Safety Car intervention.

Toto Wolff: Mercedes would have said it

It’s well known that there’s little love lost between team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, of Mercedes and Red Bull, respectively.

This rivalry was particularly tense in 2021 as their sniping at each other proved just as intense as the on-track battles of their drivers.

While the championship was eventually decided in Verstappen’s favour, with Mercedes winning the Constructors’ Championship, there was little reason for anger between the two sides – the deciding factor in the championship had been an external force, rather than the actions of either team.

Mercedes opted for silence in the aftermath, with the team – and Hamilton – hunkering down for the winter with little contact with the outside world, while Red Bull celebrated their first title win since 2013.

But Wolff believes that Horner could have done more to show grace in victory, with the Austrian speaking about the dramatic weekend in Abu Dhabi in an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard.

“I felt that the other side – and that’s not Max – there was not one sentence saying: ‘That was a difficult day for Mercedes, we acknowledge it, they’re both deserving champions and today it went against Mercedes,’” Wolff said.

“There was not one word from Christian or the other team [members] in acknowledging that. It was entitlement.”

Put to him that saying such a statement aloud might have tipped the balance if a dispute over the title arose, Wolff declared: “We would have said it.”

Toto Wolff: Perhaps both should have been World Champions

The fateful night at Yas Marina was the culmination of what had been a season-long battle between Verstappen and Hamilton, and between Red Bull and Mercedes.

Red Bull, as the then-underdogs, were attempting to topple Mercedes after six years of relentless domination from the Brackley-based squad, and the two drivers had come into the season finale neck and neck on points.

“I felt the way that Lewis handled that disappointment after the race, hats off to him,” Horner told Sky Sports in an interview last year.

“Because he would have been even more disappointed. Record-breaking World Championship has just disappeared but he handled himself with dignity and respect.

“I shook his hand in the driver’s room after the race and he had the good grace to say well done.”

In what was one of the closest and most tense championships ever in Formula 1, Wolff had an unusual proposal as to how the situation could have been handled.

“Both drivers were deserving Champions because of the ups and downs of the season. Probably both should have been World Champions,” he said.

“Max was the stronger driver in the first half, Lewis was stronger in the second half. It was the same with the cars, both of them should have had the trophy.

“But in that race, on that day, the race was decided and it fell the other way.

“The referee decided to do something that was not in the rulebook – not just a judgement call, but just not in the rulebook.

“It was the madness of it, and the chaos.”