Michael Masi is a man in deeper trouble after his hypocritical stance on Lando Norris came to light.
Masi was the final villain of the season, and played the big bad role to perfection in Abu Dhabi. His decision to let Max Verstappen inch closer to Lewis Hamilton and snatch the lead from him in a race he had been comfortably leading had far-reaching consequences.
Verstappen took the championship, and while he thoroughly deserves it, he didn’t deserve to become champion at Yas Marina, and certainly didn’t deserve to have his moment come with a huge asterisk.
Now, Masi is a man in deeper trouble after his stance on Norris and his situation at the Eifel GP contradicted what he did in the UAE.
The 42-year-old had caused controversy in Germany when he ordered a Safety Car during the race, and then had it run for an extended period of time.
Norris was caught between a rock and a hard place with smoke and fire surrounding his car, but the Australian allowed every single car to unlap themselves, something he conveniently forgot to do during the season finale.
Vague explanation
As quoted by the Mirror, Masi had said at the time, “There’s a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past.
“From that point, it was position six onwards that were still running [on the lead lap], so between 10 or 11 cars had to unlap themselves.
“Therefore the safety car period was a bit longer than what we would have normally expected.”
If the Race Director had showed some consistency at Yas Marina, there may have been a very different outcome.
Unfortunately, he stuck to bending the rules on the fly and prioritising TV ratings and drama over racing, comically suggesting that F1 was going “motor racing” on the last lap.
Read more: Brundle defends Masi amidst fan backlash – “You have got to make quick decisions”
He has to go, he’s lost all credibility
Say goodbye to Horner and Helmut and give Max a big hug
Rules are rules get him gone
When my wife who has no interest in F1 watched the last few laps with me the one thing she said was ‘that can’t be right’ immediay the cars between max and hammy were released but no others. Then something must be wrong.
If Masi can not even follow is own precedents then there is no hope for F1. He has probably had the biggest influence on the season and finished with the biggest error of them all.
He seems to have lost a lot of drivers confidence after Brazil.
His positions untenable if he does not walk he should be fired.
He deserves to be fired!
A referee that does not follow the rules!
What this guy has done to the sport is totally wrong it’s left totally confusion at the end of the championship the true champion clearly was Lewis Hamilton You cannot change the rules and therefore it was totally unfair and wrong champion was crowned max verstappen this guy must resign immediately immediately . Otherwise there’s going to be a lot of people not following F1 anymore
I am one of those people that will no longer watch the farce that it has become. I’ve been watching F1 since I was 14 (am now 68)…but no more.
This guy is a first class clown think my 6 year old daughter could of done a better job than him the sooner he is gone the better
That was a joke of a race .we’re do you get a race with such a stupid ending.made by a stupid man .masi needs firing .definitely ????????
Can his ass ASAP. Let’s make a former racer take his place. Jenson Button, Joylon Palmer etc.
Masi needs to go full stop.
Congratulations to Max.Bad luck Lewis.Should have been yours.
Michael Masi stuffed up badly.Time for a replacement
You could hear the panic in his voice when RB called him. He’s just not up to the job.
Clown
Can’t blame Massi for all. Bet its hard to ignore Liberty in his head phone. Whispering. Here’s your chance to have a new world champion. Good for us. Good for you.. We know you will do the right thing Michael!!!!
Masi has to go! If anyone has bought the sport into disrespect he has. Charlie Whiting will be revolving in his grave
Bullshit
Seems he broke the rules himself ! As the wording in the sporting regs are not “vague” in what they say. So no real room to change the meaning as he did.
It won’t change the winner all this court cases that’s ahead of them. It will rewrite the rule book next year. !!
R B will take the win and Merc will accept the defeat.
The fairest way would have not let the cars past and give max on new tyres 2/3 laps to chase Lewis down. Then that would have been the teams tactic’s and drivers ability that took the win. Not someone gifting it to one
Mind you Mr Massi will get to go to all Red bulls “fancy party’s” for ever and a day. !!.
Michael masi has to go that was just out right embarrassing to watch …that was bit like two football teams playing say Chelsea and Liverpool it’s 1-1 and in the last moment the referee saying to Liverpool all your defenders must sit down lo lol
He destroyed the reputation of F1 and put it to shame. He doesn’t deserve to be there at all.
Masi totally ruined a fantastic conclusion to this years F1 championship, and upset so many people watched f1 for over 60 years but that’s me done with the sport till Masi goes
I knew from the start that you wanted a different winner this year because the amount of times you have let off redbull and max for infringements is ridiculous. But what you did on that last last lap was disgusting. I’m sure you got a hefty paycheck from redbull. How on earth can you deny a clear winner?? Redbull were no way closer to the Mercs to win that race.