LONDON (Reuters) – Max Verstappen stated on Wednesday he felt like the Formula One world champion and any transfer by Mercedes to try to take away the title in court docket wouldn’t change that.
The 24-year-old Red Bull driver denied Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton an eighth crown in a controversial decider in Abu Dhabi on Sunday after a sudden change of the security automobile process performed into the Dutch teen’s arms on the final lap.
Mercedes have till Thursday night, the evening of the gala awards ceremony in Paris the place Verstappen is because of obtain the champion’s trophy, to enchantment after post-race protests had been dismissed.
“I do really feel like the world champion,” the Dutch driver instructed reporters in a video name after a manufacturing unit homecoming when requested about the danger of attorneys getting concerned.
“It does not matter what they attempt to do. We gained it on monitor, when there was a inexperienced mild and we handed them on the monitor. And they are going to by no means be capable to take that away from me anyway. About the attainable enchantment, I’m not busy with that.”
Team boss Christian Horner stated it was time to maneuver on.
The instant indications, nevertheless, had been that Mercedes — whose bosses have stated nothing since Sunday — had been nonetheless seething at what they think about a manipulated consequence that robbed Hamilton of a report title.
Hamilton, who led the race till that final lap, collected his knighthood at Windsor Castle on Wednesday and stated nothing to media.
“We’ve welcomed Max dwelling to the group immediately as the world champion,” stated Horner.
“We’re trying ahead to seeing him decide up the trophy tomorrow night as the world champion.”
Asked whether or not Red Bull would possibly pull out of the sport if Mercedes had been to win an enchantment, Horner selected his phrases rigorously.
“If the unthinkable had been to occur, we’d problem that in the applicable method,” he stated.
The Briton added that he had sought out Mercedes group boss Toto Wolff after the race however the Austrian was unavailable. Ola Kaellenius, head of Mercedes-Benz, did supply his congratulations, nevertheless.
Wolff despatched a textual content later in the night, as he did additionally to Verstappen, congratulating Red Bull on the drivers’ championship.
“I congratulated him on profitable the constructors’ world championship and reminded him that’s the place the cash’s paid, not the drivers’. I have not spoken with him since,” added Horner. Mercedes gained the group title for the eighth 12 months in a row.
Horner stated Mercedes’ dispute was with the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) and race director Michael Masi and never Red Bull, who did nothing unsuitable however had been an social gathering.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, enhancing by Ed Osmond)
