Red Bull chief Christian Horner has accused rivals Mercedes of “bullying” F1 race director Michael Masi out of his job.
Masi was removed from his role following an FIA investigation into the controversial ending to last season’s championship race, which saw Red Bull’s max Verstappen overtake Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to clinch the title.
Mercedes were furious after Masi allowed cars between Hamilton and Verstappen on the race track to unlap themselves, leaving Hamilton a sitting duck with his rival having pitted for fresh tyres.
“Was it right to fire him based on pressure that was placed on him from a rival team? That for me was wrong,” Horner said in an interview with BBC Sport.
“That’s tantamount to bullying. It’s passively aggressive.”
Though Masi’s high-profile blunder fell in Red Bull’s favour, Horner was equally critical of the race director at various points during an enthralling and controversy-laden campaign.
“We were on the receiving end of many of Michael’s errors,” Horner said. “But he is in a high-pressure role in a high-pressure sport.
“But what it is unforgivable is the trolling, 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 a concerted campaign that was very passive-aggressively focused against him.
“I will always stand up for someone who is being bullied. Bullying is not acceptable.”
