F1 Gossip: Mercedes ‘bullying’ influenced Masi’s exit - Horner

- In an interview with the , Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner once again questioned the FIA’s decision to 🌸replace Michael Masi.
“Was it right to fire him based on pressure that was placed on him from a rival team? That for me was wrong🌠,” ꦫHorner said.
“That's tantamount to bullying💫. It's passively aggressಌive.”
In the same int꧃erview, Horner expanded on𒈔 his previous ‘bullying comments’.
“We were on the receiving end of many of Michaꦦel's errors,” Horner added. “But he is in a high-pressure role in a high-pressure sport. But what it is unforgivable is the troll𓆉ing, the abuse online, the death threats that he and his family had. That absolutely cannot be condoned in any way.
“That has nothing to do with the sport. It's just out-and-out bullying and I would not accept that in any way within our organisation. That's why I spoke up for Michael because I felt that he had not had any support. He had not had any backing. That he'd been hung out🍬 to dry and that there was this concerted campaign that was very passive-aggressively focused again𝄹st him.
“I will always stand up for someone who is being bullied. Bullyin🙈g is not acceptable.”
- Toജto Wolff says Mercedes doesn’t regret celebrating the 2021 British Grand Pri🔥x while Max Verstappen was in hospital after a race-ending crash with Lewis Hamilton.
He told Sky Sports: “There wasn’t a lot of feeling of rღemorse on our side, because Lewis has given up corners much more often before where he shouldn’t have.
“If you’re sitting in the hospital shaken by a big impact, you’re not going to understand that the other team is cheering for their driver. But it waꦑs [Lewis Hamilton’s] home r꧃ace, a massive swing to our advantage in terms of points, and we knew that Max was OK.”
- Red Bull aꦿnd Mercedes are set to bring significant upgrades to the second test in Bahrain. McLaren is expected to bring some new parts as well. ()
- Pietro Fittipaldi, F2 driver Jehan Daruvala, and Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri are in t✱he running to replace Nikita Mazep♒in at Haas. ()
- Williams boss Jost Ca☂pito says ♍Jamie Chadwick needs to step up into F3 and F2 in the near future.
“It’s up to her how she develops her career. We support her path,” he said as reported by . “I think she had a few options and if she wants to continue 🔯racing in🥂 the W Series, that’s her choice.
“If you still have Formula 1 as your goal, then you have to go through Formula 3 and Formula 2 at some p⭕oint.”
- Pirelli has announced the tyre c🌠ompound allocations for the opening three races of the season.
The tyre choices are in! One set of softs must be sa🉐ved for Q3: 𒉰the drivers qualifying in the top 10 then have to return them. One set each of mediums and hards must be kept for the race; all drivers are obliged to use at least one of those sets.
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport)

With a s💧harp eye for F1’s con🐻troversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.