Red Bull team boss Christian Horner defended FIA race director Michael Masi and emphasized that the widespread criticism of the Australian official was “unfair”. Express Sport readers voted strongly for Masi to lose his job at Mercedes, who is dissatisfied with the outcome of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend (Sunday, December 12th) after Max Verstappen was crowned the new world champion.
Despite winning the Constructors ‘Championship, the Silver Arrows are frustrated with how Masi mastered the final laps of the 2021 season finals in the desert after Williams’ Nicholas Latifi found the wall.
A safety car was called, whereupon the five lapped cars between the leading Lewis Hamilton, who was about to win his eighth drivers’ title, and the runner-up Verstappen should drive themselves out.
That was very shortly after Masi said over the radio that he would not allow drivers to unlap themselves, the controversy being due to the fact that the drivers behind Verstappen – Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher – after the U have not been asked to turn.
Verstappen had the freedom to cycle with Hamilton on the final lap of the race at the Yas Marina Circuit and had a huge advantage thanks to his fresh, soft tires, while the Brit enjoyed wicked hard compounds.
Mercedes, who also considered the restart of the race to be hasty, had two protest rallies rejected by the stewards on Sunday and then finally withdrew a follow-up application on Thursday. They were of the opinion that the race should have ended under the safety car, hence the victory with Hamilton.
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The world champion welcomed an FIA investigation into the events of the race and said in a statement: “We have appealed in the interests of sporting fairness and have since been in a constructive dialogue with the FIA and Formula 1 to create clarity for the future.” so that all participants know what rules they are driving by and how they are enforced.
“We therefore welcome the decision by the FIA to set up a commission to analyze the events in Abu Dhabi thoroughly and to improve the robustness of rules, governance and decision-making in Formula 1. We also appreciate that she has invited the teams and drivers to participate.
“The Mercedes-AMG Petronas team will work actively with this commission to build a better Formula 1 – for every team and every fan who loves this sport as much as we do. We will hold the FIA responsible for this process and hereby make our appeal. “
Similarly, Susie Wolff – Toto’s wife and CEO of Formula E’s Mercedes partner Venturi Racing – released her own statement which read, “The way Lewis was robbed made me completely incredulous.
“The decision of one person within the governing body to apply a rule in a way that has never been done in F1 has decided the F1 Drivers’ World Championship single-handedly. Rules are rules, you can’t do it on a whim be changed out. ” Individual at the end of a race. “
In our latest survey, Express Sport readers are also among those who are emphatically frustrated by Masi about the dismissal of the 42-year-old. So far, 75 percent have voted for him to be removed from his position as race director before the next season.
But Horner came out to defend the under-fire officer who reported he was being confronted with the ax and told the Telegraph, “It’s an exaggeration. Latifi, I’m sure, had no intention of crashing. It was just an accident.
“His driving style was flawless, especially in the last four races. He had a sovereign lead right from the start in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
“He won the start and never gave up the lead. To deprive him on the last lap of the race is unacceptable. It is up to the FIA to decide how these decisions, how these situations can be avoided.”
Horner added to the Telegraph, “We didn’t do anything wrong. We won the race on the track. You can’t look at incidents in isolation. So many decisions were against us.
“Even at the start of the Abu Dhabi race, Hamilton was not fined for cutting the chicane. Many people have said Lewis is a sitting duck in Abu Dhabi.
“But tactically Mercedes made a mistake. You had the choice to pit, you decided against it and you left him in this situation.”
