10 December 2023 , 21:46
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Turns out, the strangest Formula 1 story of the 2023 season came about after all the on-track action was over.
It involves Lewis Hamilton and the FIA - we've been here before, but this time it's not about what happened during a race. It's about a Friday night event in Baku, Azerbaijan, which has led to a situation in which the Mercedes driver's prize for the season has been lost.
Sort of, anyway - the person who seems to have it has been making no secret of that fact. A social media user, using the name Nihad Nesirli on their account, has been posting photos of the trophy.
They claim it was given to them by Hamilton. The Brit flew to Baku to attend the FIA end-of-season Prize Giving ceremony to pick it up, deliver a short speech on stage and then head off to get started on his plans for the winter break.
He did not leave with the trophy in his possession, nor was that the plan. As Mercedes said in a media alert on Sunday morning, Hamilton left the trophy behind on purpose - but not, as some outlets had reported, as a form of protest against the FIA.
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The team statement read: "Immediately after leaving the stage, and as has been done at previous prize-givings, Lewis accepted the offer from officials for the trophy to be sent on to the team and therefore left it in their care. We can confirm he did not give the trophy to anyone 'as a gift', as has been speculated."
Naturally, some fans got in touch with Nihad Nesirli after reading that statement. It prompted the social media user to post again on his account to address the issue, this time attributing it to a misunderstanding between himself and the F1 racer.
They wrote: "Hello, good evening. I am very disappointed to see messages written to me like thief or something. First of all I want to say I didn't steal anything from anywhere. This is just a misunderstanding. Lewis Hamilton put the award on the table. I asked him if I could take the prize.
"He said to me, yes, you can take the prize. And I thought he gifted me the award. But now, after seeing the statement from Mercedes, I understand that Lewis did not gift me the award. He mistakenly thought I was the FIA official in charge of the award."
However, this explanation does not line up with what Mirror Sport understands about what happened after Hamilton collected his trophy. Sources say the seven-time world champion handed the prize to an FIA official that certainly was not Nihad Nesirli, as said in the Mercedes statement, and did not speak to any fans before leaving the venue.
How it came to be in the possession of Nihad Nesirli remains unknown. Mirror Sport has approached them for comment. But their claim that Hamilton gave the trophy to them or allowed them to take it has been disputed by multiple sources familiar with the events of that night.
The FIA is investigating the current whereabouts of the trophy and how it came to be in the possession, if indeed it is, of Nihad Nesirli. No doubt Mercedes and Hamilton would also like to know how their prize went missing at an event in the manner it did.