Michael Masi gave a shocking response to Toto Wolff at the Abu Dhabi GP, defending his abysmal decision at Yas Marina.
Controversy and politics took centre stage as Max Verstappen clinched his maiden drivers’ title in dramatic circumstances. What looked like a 10-second loss ended up being a victory for him, and he was helped by the FIA’s controversial decision.
Lewis Hamilton was on course for the win and the championship, until the FIA played the joker in their hand. With one solitary lap to go, Masi took the call to resume racing from a safety car by unlapping the five cars in between the two championship leaders.
That is a breach of the rules, and it was made more bizarre by the fact that only the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were allowed to unlap themselves. It was a disaster of epic proportions, but the Race Director was having none of it.
As quoted by talkSport, as Verstappen and his team celebrated his victory, Wolff stood up for his team and furiously told Masi, “You need to reinstate the lap before, that’s not right.”
The Race Director replied with the most deadpan comment ever, saying, “Toto, it’s called a motor race. We went car racing.”
Disaster management
What was the best season in recent memory suffered a very anticlimactic ending. Unfortunately, hard and clean racing took a backseat to politics thanks to Masi and the FIA.
His decision set up the final lap, which in all likelihood provided the financial benefits the sport needed. Usual procedure would have seen the Safety Car go all the way to the finish line and have Hamilton as champion, something he deserved for his performance today.
Read more: Brawn defends Masi from backlash – “Was a tricky race and tricky weekend”