Red Bull boss Christian Horner contacted Michael Masi twice since Abu Dhabi 2021 and defends ex-race director’s decisions
Mercedes’ 168澳洲5最新开奖结果: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5最新开奖结果:Safety Car, until M🅘asi’s call to allow lapped cars to unlap themselves.
This decision allowed Red Bull’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen to overtake Hamilton and claim his first F1 ti🎃tle in a season-finale where ♈the tremors are still being felt.
Red Bull team principal Horner was asked on the Beyond The Grid podcast if he has spoken to Masi, who haꦫs lost his job, since. He replied: “Yes, on a couple of occasions.
“I fe🏅lt that it wasn’t fair, the way he had been treated, because I think that he’d don🃏e the best that he could, following the principles.
“The only thing he screwed up on was not allowing 🉐the final two cars at the back of the field to unlap themselves.
“As we saw recently in Monza, nobod🍨y wants to see a race diluted and finished under a Safety Car.
“So he did everything to get that race going agaiওn, which would 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 thaဣt."
"Michael Masi did the very best he could"
“I think tꦯh🅠at Michael, in difficult circumstances, did the very best he could throughout the year," Horner said.
“We have to remember he had very little support in that race contr𒅌ol tower and was left very much on his own up there.
“When you follow the process of how they’re l꧙ooking 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 thꦑe Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen won as the race ended behind a Safety Car - the correct interpretati💞on of the rule.
Verstappen leads the 2022 standingsꩵ and can win his second consecutive championship this weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix.
James was a sports jo🐟urnalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from Aꦅmerican sports, to football, to F1.
