Mercedes denies striking deal to oust Michael Masi


Mercedes denies striking deal to oust Michael Masi

Michael Masi

The 2021 Formula 1 season saw Mercedes Lewis Hamilton coming close to record 8th world title only to lose it in the last lap of Abu Dhabi GP, the season finisher, to eventual champion Max Verstappen thanks to a controversial decision by Race Director Michael Masi.  During the Safety car lap after Nicholas Latifi’s crash allowed only the lapped cars between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to unlap setting up a last lap race finish allowing Max Verstappen to take advantage of his fresh tyres to overtake Lewis Hamilton.

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Following the steal according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolf, team Mercedes filed 2 separate protests which weren’t successful. Mercedes then decided to appeal against the decision but decided not to do after consulting Lewis Hamilton according to BBC reports. Now BBC has come forth with another report siting senior officials that Mercedes decided not to appeal after them and the FIA came to an agreement on matters concerning Michael Masi.   

Find out about the alleged agreement and Mercedes reply to the allegation

Michael Masi; Toto Wolff
Michael Masi; Toto Wolff

BBC reports siting  a “senior source”  that team Mercedes “dropped their appeal against the results of the race after agreeing a ‘quid pro quo deal’ with the FIA”. The report suggest that Mercedes want “ Michael Masi and FIA head of single-seater technical matters Nikolas Tombazis would no longer be in their positions for the 2022 season

Mercedes is replied to allegation saying  “any such deal wasn’t reached” and reiterated their previous statement that they dropped the appeal after receiving assurances the matter (the final lap decision) would be taken seriously and investigated fully by the FIIA.

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Team Mercedes have a huge stake in what FIA will find in their investigation on the Abu Dhabi incident and will be hoping to come to a collective conclusion that incidents such as this wont repeat in the future. Mercedes also face Lewis Hamilton retirement scares as some senior officials expect Hamilton to retire if any tangible findings occur.

Also Read: ‘He had the toughest job in the world,’ Ferrari defend Michael Masi