Nico Rosberg slammed Red Bull for pressurising Michael Masi, and called for teams to avoid influencing the decisions.
Max Verstappen took the Drivers’ Championship for the first time in his career. It was a well-deserved title, but the circumstances were bizarre.
Red Bull did everything they could to try and sway the last lap shenanigans in their favour. Right after the team finished their communication with Masi, the Race Director went back on his decision to keep the lapped cars behind the Safety Car.
The unlapped cars saw Verstappen right behind Lewis Hamilton, undoing the latter’s hard work all race to keep a ten-second gap between himself and the Dutchman. It saw him take the world championship, and most fans weren’t happy with the means.
Rosberg slammed Red Bull for pressurising Masi, and called for better communication between teams and the FIA.
“Obviously, you hear Christian (Horner) coming on the radio, to the referee saying ‘Hey, we just need one more lap of racing’, that is not ideal,” he said, as quoted by GP Fans.
“That is the type of thing we need to try and sort out for next year and get rid of that. They shouldn’t even be speaking to the referee at all. It wouldn’t happen in football. You can’t have the manager during the match calling the referee all the time. That doesn’t work.
“That is the kind of thing we need to really clean out for next year and also with the whole overtaking thing. There needs to be a proper framework where we can really keep things understood,” he concluded.
Stop talking
Former world champion Jenson Button agreed with Rosberg, saying, “Both Mercedes and Red Bull were talking to the referee if you like during the race.
“They can’t be swaying the decision, it is difficult enough for Michael Masi.”
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