Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing’s F1 team representative, admitted that race director Michael Masi made a mistake in the final round of the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
At the most controversial moment of last season, Michael Masi allowed some of the lapped vehicles to unwrap and set a last lap shootout between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on fresh tires to win his first F1 World Champion.
Shortly after, Mercedes F1 threatened to take legal action, but it had no effect. However, Michael Masi was removed from the race director before the 2022 season and replaced by Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich.
Michael Masi’s decision benefited Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing directly, but team representative Christian Horner admitted that it was a mistake of the former race director.
“He made one mistake in that he didn’t allow all lapped cars to unwrap himself,” Christian Horner told the Cambridge Union.
“I think there were three cars behind the field that couldn’t unwrap themselves. That was the only mistake he made.”
Christian Horner said Michael Masi’s treatment was “very harsh” and emphasized the accusation that Michael Masi suffered online.
“I found the trolling he was left alone and the trolling he received online, especially in public, without any support from the federation he was supposed to support, to be very severe.”
“Last year there were many decisions he felt opposed to us, such as the Yellow Flag in Qatar qualifying and the Silverstone case with Lewis, but he was in a very difficult position. I feel sorry for him that there must have been more support after that championship. “
Christian Horner also said he talked about how he felt at the end of the race and remembered telling the Sky Sports commentary team that he needed “something from the gods of the race.”
“I thought Mercedes had the upper hand in most races,” said Christian Horner.
“We passed the qualifying on the pole, but Lewis was pulling it apart. He was in control of the race.”
“I’ve been through this season and I’ve been pretty competitive, but how do I lose both championships and pick up Max? What do I say to the team? How do they? Should I raise my spirit? “
“In fact, I think I was connected to Sky’s commentators. This has always been an interesting experience and they asked me what it would look like.”
“After I said,’Well, I think we need something from the gods of the race to turn this around,’ Nicholas Latifi appeared. I didn’t realize it was direct.”
Category: Category: F1 / Red bull