Red Bull boss Christian Horner contacted Michael Masi twice since Abu Dhabi 2021 and defends ex-race director’s decisions
Mercedes’ 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton was leading en route to an all-time record eighth F1 championship with the race set to finish behind a 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Safety Car, u▨ntil Masi’s call to allow lapped cars to unlap themselves.
This decision allowed Red Bull’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen to overtake Haꦆmilton and claim his first F1 title in a season-finale wherไe the tremors are still being felt.
Red Bull team principal Horner was asked on the Beyond The Grid podౠcast if he has 🏅spoken to Masi, who has lost his job, since. He replied: “Yes, on a couple of occasions.
“I felt that it wasn’t fair, the way he had been treated, because I think that he’d done the best that he could, fol🌃lowing the principles.
“The only thing he screwed up on was not allowing the final two cars at t𝓰he back of the field to unlap themselves.
“As we saw recently in Mo♔nza,💃 nobody wants to see a race diluted and finished under a Safety Car.
“So he did everything to get that race going again, which woulꦚd have been a horrendous finish to the season, to see it just diluted and peter out under a Safety Car.
“I think the reaction after the race🦩, there was a huge amount of abuse sent to him, there were death threats to his family. No individual🉐 deserves to go through that."
"Michael Masi did the very best he could"
“I think that Michael, in difficult circumstances, did th📖e very best he could ☂throughout the year," Horner said.
“We have to remember he had very little support in that race control tower and was꧃ left very much on his own up there.
“When you follow the process of how they’re ♈looking at how cars run, it’s back to pens and pieces of paper.
“He didn’t have ♉all the🐼 backup that the teams have, for example, with our operations rooms, and the software.
“It was still a very rudimentary process.”
Masi lost his job with the FIA in the aftermath.
This season at the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen won as the race ended behind a Safety Car🎃 - t🌟he correct interpretation of the rule.
Verstappen leads the 2022 standings and can win his second consecutive champions🍬hip thisဣ weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix.
James was a sports journalist �꧂�at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
