Horner also believes that the former race director received insufficient support, and he wished him the best of luck.
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Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, believes that former race director Michael Masi should have been given more assistance by the FIA rather than being removed from his position. Masi was accused of tampering with the 2021 championship when he allowed a limited number of lapped runners to pass the Safety Car ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’s final lap.
This resulted in Max Verstappen overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to clinch his first-ever championship in remarkable and highly contentious circumstances. Initially, it appeared that Mohammed ben Sulayem, the new FIA president, would be putting in place infrastructure for the Australian, having appointed Peter Bayer as executive director of single-seaters.
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However, following a meeting with team principals nearly two weeks ago, the 14-time East Rally Champion officially announced that Masi had been replaced as race director by a combination of Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas. They will be assisted by Herbie Blash, who previously served as Masi’s late predecessor Charlie Whiting’s deputy.
Horner, whose team was ultimately benefited by Masi’s decision, revealed that Masi has received death threats since the December race, similar to Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, whose crash caused the Safety Car. “The lack of support that was shown to Michael was disappointing, especially at a time when mental health is so prevalent,” he said, as quoted by the Mirror.
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“To hear that his family and he received death threats is not right.”
Horner also believes that the former race director received insufficient support, and he wished him the best of luck in his future endeavours. “An awful lot of pressure was put on the FIA to deal with him,” he stated.
“And I made it clear in last week’s meeting in London that there should have been more support for him. I was disappointed that nobody shared that opinion. I have had an exchange with Michael to wish him well. But the whole experience was very, very tough for him.”
