The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has issued a scathing assessment of the former Formula One race director Michael Masi, whose actions were decisive in denying Lewis Hamilton a potential eighth championship last season.
Wolff said Masi was a “liability” to the sport, who was disrespectful to drivers and has still failed to acknowledge his culpability despite being removed from his role by the FIA.
At the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year Masi’s intervention, improvising with the rules around the safety car and the way cars could unlap themselves, proved key in the title fight between Wolff’s Mercedes driver Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. It allowed Verstappen, on fresh tyres, the chance to attack and pass Hamilton on the final lap, securing his first championship in the process.
The subsequent protests from Mercedes came to nothing but the FIA, whose report cited “human error” as playing a part in the process, later removed Masi from his role. The incident has remained highly contentious and four months later it was clear Wolff was still unhappy at Masi and his actions.
“He was just immune to any feedback and even today he has not properly reflected that he did something wrong,” Wolff said. “You hear from the drivers and how the drivers’ briefings were conducted [by Masi] and some of the guys said it was almost disrespectful how he treated some of them. There is a promoter of one of the races in the Middle East who said he was so relieved he had gone because he got so much abuse from him.”
The FIA’s report fell far short of apportioning blame on Masi, instead noting the pressure he was under and that certain rules were open to “interpretation”. The furore has rumbled on ever since, distracting from what was one of F1’s classic seasons.
Hamilton has acknowledged Verstappen did nothing wrong and acted as any driver would in the circumstances but Wolff pointedly noted the manner of his victory and the Dutchman’s achievement was overshadowed because of Masi’s role.
“He was a liability for the sport because everybody kept talking about Abu Dhabi and the race director,” he said. “The race director should not be somebody that people talk about but someone who does the job and makes sure the race is run according to the regulations.”
Wolff also revealed he had appealed to Masi in the week before the race to adopt a more open-handed approach to developing his role.
“I had lunch with him on the Wednesday before the race,” he said. “I said to him: ‘I really want to tell you, without patronising you, that you need to take criticism on board and develop from there. Lewis does it every day but you are a guy who always seems to know better.’ It wasn’t about influencing him but really giving my honest feedback that he shouldn’t block outside opinion as simply being wrong.”
The crucial moment during the closing laps in Abu Dhabi were marked by both Wolff and the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, lobbying on behalf of their teams directly to Masi over the radio. The FIA has since removed their ability to do so with teams able to contact the race director only via an intermediary. Masi was to be moved to another role in the FIA but it has yet to reveal what this position will be.
This year Masi was replaced with two new personnel, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, and the FIA has also introduced a series of new structures, including a standalone race control unit to function similarly to VAR in football.
After three races this season Freitas and Wittich have been reasonably strict with their application of the rules but have not made any major interventions. Last week in Australia, however, Wittich attracted some controversy by reiterating to drivers the rule that they cannot wear piercings or jewellery in the car for safety reasons. Hamilton has already stated he will not be removing some of his, noting that in the case of his ear they were “welded in”.
Wolff praised Wittich’s performances thus far but questioned whether the jewellery ban was a rule worthy of backing to a standoff.
“How he has run the first few races has been respectful, solid and he hasn’t put a single foot wrong. But is that [jewellery ban] a battle he needs to have at this stage? However, if it turns out to be the biggest unfortunate misstep of a race director, I would take it a thousand times over.”
Charles Leclerc won in Australia for Ferrari, his second victory in the opening three races, while his current leading title rival Verstappen was forced to retire with a mechanical problem, his second retirement of the season. Leclerc now enjoys a significant lead in the title race. He is 34 points in front of Hamilton’s teammate George Russell in second, 43 in front of Hamilton, with Verstappen 46 points down. The next round is at Imola on 24 April.
