Max Verstappen has hit out at Formula One’s decision to sack Michael Masi - insisting that the embattled former race director was “thrown under the bus”.
Masi executed the controversial decision at the end of 2021’s season finale in Abu Dhabi which enabled Verstappen to overtake Lewis Hamilton and win his first world championship.
Since then, Hamilton and his Mercedes team have welcomed the FIA’s review of its procedure and subsequent decision to replace Masi, while Verstappen and Red Bull have criticised it.
“I think it’s not correct,” the Dutchman told reporters on Thursday as he revealed that he sent a personal message of sympathy to Masi. “Everyone always tries to do the best job, everyone can always use help.
“Like us drivers also – we have the whole team behind us, we prove it ourselves. For me, it’s very unfair what happened to Michael – he was really being thrown under the bus.
“Now, [that they] did sack him like that in the first place for me is unacceptable. And now basically [that they] sacked him is really incredible. I feel really sorry for Michael.
“Because I think he was a very capable and good race director. I have nothing against the new race directors – because I think they are also very capable and very good race directors.
“But, personally, and for Michael, I felt really sad and I sent him a text as well.”
Team bosses will no longer be able to publicly radio into the new race director in the upcoming season, with Eduardo Defreitas and Niels Wittich sharing the role alongside assistant Herbie Blash and a remote race control room.
Verstappen welcomed that decision, with both Mercedes and Red Bull guilty of regularly dialling into Masi as he attempted to control last season’s frantic title fight.
“People talk a lot about what was decided in Abu Dhabi, but can you imagine a referee in whatever sport has the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time?,” he added.
“Let’s say, ‘Yellow card!’, ‘Red card!’, ‘No decision!’, ‘No foul!’ - it’s impossible to make a decision. So, I think in the first place that F1 already allowed that - team members talking to him about making decisions - [was] very wrong.
“It needed to be Michael making the decisions on his own and having people screaming in his ear was difficult.”
