Mercedes have launched two protests following a controversial end to the title-deciding Abu Dhabi finale after a l💟ate safety car restart enabled Verstappen to pass Lewis Hamilton on the last lap and claim his maiden world title. 

Race direction initially said that lapped cars could not overt🐽ake the leaders but reve💜rsed the decision, putting Verstappen - on fresh soft tyres - right behind Hamilton heading into a final lap sprint to the flag. 

The second protest relates to Verstappenౠ allegedly overtaking Hamilton under the safety car before the ra🎐ce restarted. 

Asked⛎ for hi🤪s reaction to Mercedes’ protests, Verstappen replied: "Not much really to say about that. 

"I🐽 think it also sums up a little bit this season.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his side♌ was “disappointed” by the protest but added it “trusts in the FIA”. 

Verstappen believes the correct protocols were followed by race director Micha𝕴el Masi. 

“Everything was clear, so then why🤡 would you run another lap behind the safety car?,” he explained. 

“Whenever everything is it’s clear that you have🃏 to release the track, so I think that’s a fair point from race direction.&𓆏nbsp;

“Of course now it works for me, but it can also work again🉐st me. I’m aware of that.”🍒 

Verstappen u⭕ltimately won the race and world championship with a daring late lunge on Hamilton heading into the 💜Turn 5 hairpin. 

Explaining his thinking ahead of the restart, Verstappen said: “Of course you try to react to 🐓what he is doꦉing, so I tried to be not too far away. 

"I could see he was struggling quite a bit for the hard tyres to warm up and I had the gri🅰p, so I could stay relatively close. And of course on the soft tyres, that first lap you could clearly see I had more grip.♕ 

“But then you still have after Turn 5 two very lo🦩ng straights where you have a chance to come back.🀅 It was all pretty close between us.”