Red Bull were left furious with Michael Masi over his race decisions at the controversial Saudi Arabian GP last weekend.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton beat Red Bull and Max Verstappen in a race that was wild and chaotic from start to finish for all the wrong reasons. At the centre of the controversy was Masi and his team, who faced the wrath of the Milton-Keynes outfit.
Over the course of the race, the Race Director told Verstappen to slow down for Hamilton twice, brokered a deal with his team to keep him behind the Mercedes and gave him a ten-second penalty towards the end. Even though the Dutchman was at fault in a lot of places, his team rushed to defend him.
Red Bull were left furious with Masi over his race decisions, and presented their explanation of things.
As quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald, team advisor Dr. Helmut Marko said, Our engineers are preparing (evidence) that we can prove Max was constant with his braking.
“He didn’t ‘brake-test’ like Hamilton said he did. Then he (Hamilton) crashed into our car. He unfortunately put two cuts in the rear tyre. That was so severe that we couldn’t attack anymore. We had to take speed out. That was the one thing.
“The next thing was at the second start, Hamilton was more than ten (car) lengths behind. (Sebastian) Vettel got penalised in Budapest when he did it.
“But with this manoeuvre, he was preparing his tyre better for the start. Then he pushed Max off (at the restart): no reaction. So we feel we are not treated the same. It’s a very one-side tending decision-making here.”
No way he’s slowing down
“I don’t think there is any reason why he should cool down,” Marko continued his rant.
“It’s the match between Mercedes and Red Bull, and the match between Max and (Lewis).
“And just remember what happened in Silverstone and what happened in Budapest. Don’t forget that.”
Read more: Masi shoots down Hamilton’s FIA accusation – “I’m not the one sitting as judge and jury”