Max Verstappen did not hold back on his thoughts about race director Michael Masi recently being removed from his position in wake of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix controversy.
He accused the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) of throwing Masi under the bus.
“I think it's not correct,” Verstappen said. “Everyone always tries to do the best job and everyone can always use help, us drivers also, we have a whole team behind us, to improve ourselves.”
By trying to make sure the season finale was not determined behind a safety car, Masi decided to allow the five lapped cars between Lewis Hamilton (who was leading) and Verstappen (who was in second) overtake the safety car.
Not all of the lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves, creating even more confusion among the drivers. Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher were three other lapped drivers, and the first two—Ricciardo and Stroll—were in between Verstappen in second place, and Carlos Sainz in third. Ricciardo later said, per the unbroadcasted team radio: “I'm glad I'm not a part of that—whatever just happened. It seemed pretty f----- up.”
It placed Verstappen right on Hamilton’s tail, resulting in a mad dash to the finish that resulted in the young Red Bull star winning and taking the champion title. Formula One stewards eventually dismissed both of Mercedes’s protests concerning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the controversial restart.
Masi made the controversial call moments after talking directly with both Red Bull and Mercedes pit walls, both who advocated for their own teams.
“For me, it is very unfair what happened to Michael because he's really been thrown under the bus, and of course people talk a lot about what was decided in Abu Dhabi,” Verstappen said. “But can you imagine a referee in whatever sport has the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time ‘yellow card, red card, no decision, no foul’, it's impossible to make a decision.
“So that F1 already allowed that, that team members could talk to him while making decisions, is very wrong, because it needed to be Michael making the decisions on his own without having people screaming in his ears. The people who did sack him allowed it in the first place for me is unacceptable, and now basically just, yeah, sacked him. I found it really incredible...Not the right decision.”
