“It’s unacceptable,” Max Verstappen lashes out at the decision by FIA to remove former Race Director Michael Masi

“It’s unacceptable,” Max Verstappen lashes out at the decision by FIA to remove former Race Director Michael Masi

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen clinched his first Formula One Drivers Championship title in 2021. The Dutchman won the title after an epic duel with Hamilton whom he overtook in the last lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi to claim his maiden title.

Max’s win was shrouded in controversy with many fans and pundits claiming that the unfair and inconsistent decisions taken by the then Race Director Micheal Masi had won him his title. The Aussie has since been fired from his role and the FIA have since done structural changes in their race governance team.

Lewis Hamilton lost the final race in Abu Dhabi to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after racing Wheel-to-Wheel in a nail-biting 2021 season. The controversial ruling by Masi allowed the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves giving the Dutchman a chance to make the overtake on the Briton with his fresher soft tyres.

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Max Verstappen says Masi has “been thrown under the bus”

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

When asked for his thoughts on the FIA changes, the Dutchman feels the decision taken by the FIA was “unacceptable”. Max said firing Masi was wrong, given that the governing body put him in such a tough situation in the first place.

Verstappen told “I think it’s not correct. Everyone always tries to do the best job and everyone can always use help. As drivers also, we have the whole team behind us to prove ourselves but, for me, it’s very unfair what happened to Michael, because he’s really been thrown under the bus.”

Micheal Masi
Micheal Masi

He continues “People talk a lot about what was decided in Abu Dhabi, but can you imagine a referee, in whatever sport, having the coach equivalent screaming in his ear all the time? That’s a yellow card, red card, no decision, no foul – it’s impossible to make a decision. So, I think, in the first place that F1 allowed that team members could talk to him while making decisions is very wrong.”

Max stated that Masi was under pressure and the FIA didn’t provide him with adequate support during such a crucial moment. He went on to state that Masi was a very capable and good Race Director. Following Masi’s sacking, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas will alternate between races as the Race Directors and Max is confident that they will do their job well.

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