Toto Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton would’ve been in contention for the victory in Abu Dhabi were it not for the bollard incident in qualifying that knocked him out in Q1.

Having been inside the top five in all three practice hours, Hamilton went into his final qualifying as a Mercedes driver hoping to be near the front of the grid.

Lewis Hamilton ‘drove like a World Champion’ in Abu Dhabi

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

But it was not be, as Kevin Magnussen clattered into a bollard that rolled into Hamilton’s path and underneath his W15 where it became stuck.

PlanetF1.com’s data analyst Pablo Hidalgo crunched the numbers, estimating it cost the Briton almost four-tenths of a second meaning Hamilton could’ve been in the top-four in Q1.

Instead, he was out, knocked out with the 18th fastest time before he was promoted to P16 on the grid due to penalties for other drivers.

Starting on the hard Pirelli tyres, he was P11 at end of the opening lap before slowly working his way up the order to finish the Grand Prix in fourth place, overtaking George Russell on the very last lap.

Wolff reckons such was Hamilton’s pace that the win would’ve been on the cards were it not for the bollard in qualifying.

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“I always try to be analytical and, if the bollard wouldn’t have been in our way yesterday, I think Lewis could have fought for the victory,” Wolff told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“But then on the other side, something he said to me is that we have had so many race victories, so much success, that these last races, they don’t change anything of how we feel about it.

“He drove like a World Champion today. From P16, making it slowly through the cars, playing the long game and then finishing in fourth, driving away from the Red Bull.

“That was a statement of a World Champion.”

“Before the race, the best estimate was P6,” he added. “On pure pace and medium tyre to medium tyre with Lando, it was two-tenths slower. But obviously with Lewis’ traffic situation etcetera, etcetera, we would have been right up there.”

Abu Dhabi marked the end of an era for Hamilton and Mercedes as the seven-time World Champion, who won six of his titles with the Brackley squad, said farewell to the team after 12 years together.

Hamilton is joining Ferrari for the F1 2025 World Championship but Wolff says he’ll always be in his heart.

“It has been 12 years. It’s not only the longest driver-team relationship this sport has ever seen, it’s probably also one of the longest relationships that any sport has seen. I would be interested to see the data on that.

“It’s also been one of the longest relationships personally and that creates attachment, trust and those values in this day and age are rare. That’s why it’s a period of time that we will only always hold close to our hearts, and one of the best periods that I personally had and the team.”

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