Lewis Hamilton left with ‘some scars’ after controversial end to 2021 F1 season

The dramatic final race of the season is captured in the latest season of Drive to Survive, which was released on Friday

The ending to the 2021 F1 season has left “some scars” on Lewis Hamilton after he lost out on a record-breaking eighth championship title to Max Verstappen on the final lap of the season, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has revealed.

The conclusion to the most dramatic and unpredictable F1 season in years is featured in the final episode of the latest season of the popular Netflix series Drive to Survive.

It shows the controversial closing stages to the season-ending race as Verstappen passed Hamilton after benefitting from a late safety car and the decision of former race director Michael Masi to let some but not all of the cars to unlap themselves, setting up a final-lap shoot-out for the title.

Hamilton claims in radio footage that the ending to the race had been “manipulated” while Wolff said afterwards that the seven-time champion had been “disillusioned” by how the race was allowed to unfold.

Masi has since been removed from his post while Hamilton has returned to Mercedes ahead of the 2022 campaign, but Wolff says that his driver remains upset by the events of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last December.

F1 testing LIVE: Latest Day 2 times and results as Lewis Hamilton heads out in Mercedes

“The decision was simply wrong,” Wolff says in the final episode of Drive to Survive, which was released on Friday. “It’s clear this is going to leave some scars on Lewis and the team.

“It was taken away from him and there’s nothing better that could have been done to motivate us. Everyone has a target on their backs next year.”

The rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen and Mercedes and Red Bull runs through several episodes of the latest season of the highly awaited series.

In one episode, Hamilton suggests that Verstappen drives like a “bully” after opening up on their intense rivalry, which featured collisions at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

It also sees Red Bull team boss Christian Horner getting caught telling Hamilton to “shut the f--- up” as the Mercedes driver celebrated his seventh championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the year before, setting up the season to come.