HAMILTON IS AWOL AS MERCEDES DELAY TALKS

LEWIS HAMILTON’S whereabouts were unknown to his Mercedes team last night as the talks that will determine whether they punish him, or indeed apologise to him, await another day. The dethroned world champion is thought still to be in Abu Dhabi as the controversy over his gamesmanship at the deciding race of the season continued to be debated. Most of Formula One’s travelling circus were aghast at Mercedes’ intervention during the race, in which Hamilton tried to push his team-mate Nico Rosberg into the chasing pack in the hope he would be passed or knocked out. The tactic did not work as Rosberg came second in the desert race to take his first title by five points. Hamilton had stuck to his plan defiantly despite being told to speed up by his pit-wall boffins. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner took a pop at his Mercedes opposite number Toto Wolff, saying: ‘We know that Toto likes to control most things in the paddock. They are racing for a world championship. Winning the race was never going to be enough for Lewis and he drove a tactical race. You could not expect anything different. He didn’t do anything dirty or against the rules.’ Not everyone agreed. Triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart said: ‘When you are a driver you are an employee. The chances are that if you don’t follow instructions you are going to be penalised. I would have speeded up myself. ‘You have got to have style when you are representing one of the bluest-chip carmakers in the world.’ Yesterday Mercedes put the issue on the back-burner in order to celebrate Rosberg’s triumph at a sponsor event in Singapore. Wolff is contemplating a response that encompasses ‘everything’ — meaning dismissal, suspension or a fine — or, if he thinks Hamilton was within his rights to disobey team directions, presumably a public mea culpa. Mercedes are waiting to see if Hamilton takes part in tyre testing in Abu Dhabi today, with their junior driver Pascal Wehrlein lined up to replace him if he is a no-show. Hamilton will surely make the point in talks with his bosses that there was nothing to lose. He could have put his foot down at any moment to see off the distant challenge of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had it posed a live threat. Hamilton has spoken via social media, saying: ‘The circumstances this year have not been in my favour, but I did my best and am happy with how the season ended. ‘I’ll be back stronger and faster than ever next year. God bless.’