Michael Masi denies any preferential treatment of Red Bull in the recent investigation over rear wing changes.
Lewis Hamilton suffered a 25-place grid penalty after being investigated over a DRS violation ahead of the Brazil GP. Though, Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff defended his team by claiming that the breach was only 0.2 millimetres. He was unable to convince the stewards to budge from their decision.
Angered by the decision, Wolff called it harsh. He said that teams got permission to repair broken car components in the past if the issue could trigger an investigation.
“In the past sometimes there was a common-sense buffer that didn’t exist yesterday or today,” said Wolff. However, race director Michael Masi denied any such preferential treatment of the Red Bull team. He insisted that the FIA does not operate inconsistently.
“All the reports that Jo [Bauer] sends out as our technical delegate, prior to the race, clearly explain either repairs or replacements that can happen under parc ferme conditions,” said Masi.
“And that’s listed for everyone to read. So, from that perspective, yes, we have regular requests. At a sprint qualifying weekend, it’s even more because of when parc ferme starts.
He insisted that the FIA treats every single request equally and reviews every single one. Furthermore, he explained, “the thing is, if we see that something is, let’s call it systematic with the team over several events, then we ask them to make permanent modifications to that part.
“So there’s a whole lot of things that go into it. So no, I don’t think there’s any inconsistency at all.”
Michael Masi are teams are doing “everything and anything” to win
In a wheel-to-wheel battle between the title contenders, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, both the drivers went off the road at the Brazilian Gp. It seemed like the British driver was edged wide by the Red Bull driver.
Following this, Verstappen also received a black and white warning flag for excessive weaving in front of his rival.
Masi acknowledged that the title-contending teams and drivers are doing “anything and everything” as the championship battle hots up. The beserk Brazilian GP weekend comes after a series of on-track and off-track incidents involving the pair.
Masi thinks that it’s a very tight and intense battle for the world championship and everything that has happened over this weekend between the two teams just adds into that mix.
“Once you have an intense championship battle you’ve got both drivers and teams, they will absolutely try and do anything and everything possible from their perspective to win, and understandably so.”
Masi insisted that he and the stewards treat everyone the same. “Every competitor, every driver, is treated equally and fairly at all times. Obviously, if you’re on the receiving end of a penalty, I think everyone feels unfairly treated. So that’s part of being in the role that we are.”
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