'Drive to Survive' Season 4: 'Scarred' Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton will look for payback
"It (The World Championship final race) was taken away from him," Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff remarked in the final minutes of 'Formula One: Drive to Survive' Season 4. "And there's nothing better they could have done to motivate us." He ended the scintillating docuseries by saying "Everybody has a target on their back next year." It's big talk for some, but those who have followed Toto and Lewis Hamilton know better that cornering the Brit driver, a seven-time world champion would only mean unleashing a beast in him.
The final episode of 'Drive to Survive' Season 4 titled 'Hard Racing' follows the controversial and one of the more unique races in F1. With a winner-takes-all scenario in the final race at the Yas Marina, Hamilton and Max Verstappen were like sluggers trading blows before a Williams crash gave the Dutchman an advantage to race alongside his competitor. It was chagrin at the Mercedes paddock, while Red Bull Racing felt this was a miracle they needed to make the most of.
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And Verstappen did as he put on a gritty show and outpaced Hamilton and his flying Mercedes. Even as Toto complained to Michael Masi about the decision, he was shut down by the FIA race director saying " we went car racing". The move caused quite the uproar and Masi was eventually shown the door, but Red Bull retained their win and it was the first championship for Verstappen.
Questioning the move was Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner. In an interview with 5 Live Breakfast's Rick Edwards and Rachel Burden, he shared his two cents. "Was it right to fire him based on the pressure that was placed on him from a rival team? That for me was wrong," Horner opined. "That's tantamount to bullying. It's passively aggressive."
That said, the new season is set to go lights out in Bahrain on March 20 and will see Hamilton gunning for an eighth championship while Verstappen will look to defend his 2021 title. It's a fight to the finish again, and Wolff's grim and battle-hardened face that threw down the gauntlet to all teams says he means business.
'Formula One: Drive to Survive' Season 4 is available for streaming on Netflix.
