- Mercedes principal unhappy with Masi’s role in season finale
- ‘He has not properly reflected that he did something wrong’
The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has issued a scathing assessment of the former Formula One race director Michael Masi, whose actions were decisive in denying Lewis Hamilton a potential eighth championship last season. Wolff said Masi was a “liability” to the sport, who was disrespectful to drivers and has still failed to acknowledge his culpability despite being removed from his role by the FIA.
At the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year Masi’s intervention, improvising with the rules around the safety car and the way cars could unlap themselves, proved key in the title fight between Wolff’s Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. It allowed Verstappen, on fresh tyres, the chance to attack and pass Hamilton on the final lap, securing his first championship in the process.