Max Verstappen offered former F1 race director Michael Masi some words of support following his sacking last month.
The prolonged controversy surrounding Masi’s last lap decision making at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP was put to rest last month. F1 announced that the Aussie would no longer be race director, and it was a decision that many welcomed.
Some F1 drivers and team principals did show support to Masi, but at the FIA meeting in London last month, Red Bull were the only team to openly defend him. This was revealed by team principal Christian Horner, who insisted that the 43-year old ‘didn’t do anything wrong ‘in accordance to the rules.’
Christian Horner has spoken on Michael Masi’s dismissal as race director 👀 pic.twitter.com/Xsj9dBmD4M
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) February 22, 2022
F1 decided to replace Masi with Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, who will direct races on a rotating basis.
2021 World Champion Max Verstappen has also criticized Masi’s sacking. The Red Bull driver previously spoke about the situation, and felt that the ex-race director was being thrown under the bus. The Dutch driver also went on to say that he spoke to Masi after his sacking.
“What happened to Michael is very unfair,” Verstappen said. “The FIA were pressurized into making a decision. I wrote a message to him about it.”
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The focus should only have been in the racing, says Max Verstappen
Verstappen then said that he and the race officials didn’t agree on everything. Throughout the 2021 season, the 24-year old was under a lot of heat due to his aggressive style of driving. This often resulted in him being penalized by the stewards.
In spite of that, Verstappen was always adamant that he had a good relationship with the race officials. However, to make the sport better, he believes that the focus should only be on racing. That’s what he told Masi after the FIA removed him from his position as F1 race director.
“I said we didn’t always agree on everything but that’s racing,” he said. “We always wanted to make the sport better as a whole. Nobody is perfect, but what was always brought up was that we needed to race. We needed that mindset and he had that.”
Max Verstappen has accused the FIA of throwing Michael Masi “under the bus” 👀 https://t.co/RbvODCmd7I
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) February 24, 2022
“For Michael to jump in after Charlie Whiting was a difficult task,” Verstappen continued. “Everyone needs help. I have the whole team around me. Maybe Michael needed more people around him but he never got the opportunity. They really put him in the ground.”
“He appreciated my message. He got a few more. It was very fresh for him. I have had my moments with the stewards but at the end of the day you have to have respect for each other.
“You don’t always have to agree. The aim is to make the racing better, more exciting but also fair,” he concluded.
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