Masi's future was a major topic of discussion throughout the off-season, following the contentious decision-making in Abu Dhabi.
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Christian Horner, Red Bull’s CEO, blamed rival Mercedes for Michael Masi’s departure as race director. Masi’s future was a major topic of discussion throughout the off-season, following the contentious decision-making in the final stages of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton felt that the Drivers’ Championship had been unfairly stripped from them, with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff urging the FIA to make changes. Finally, a new structure was implemented, with Masi no longer serving as race director, which Horner believes is unjust.
“Was it right to fire him based on pressure that was placed on him from a rival team? That for me was wrong,” Horner told BBC Sport. “That’s tantamount to bullying. It’s passively aggressive. Yes, Michael did make mistakes and it was frustrating, but you have to look at the role that he was in and the tools that he had at his disposal.”
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“You can’t just place the blame on Michael. It’s unfair to do that. We were on the receiving end of many of Michael’s errors, but he is in a high-pressure role in a high-pressure sport,” Horner added.
Because of the broadcasting of team-to-Race Control messages in 2021, both Red Bull and Mercedes drew a lot of attention for how they lobbied Masi during the final stages in Abu Dhabi. The broadcasting of these communications will be halted in 2022, a decision with which Horner disagrees. But, when it came to the Abu Dhabi exchanges, he felt Mercedes was the main culprit.
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“You’ve got to report the facts,” Horner stated. “Who was the first to call Michael? It wasn’t me. I’m only responding to the pressure being applied on him that I can hear in my ear from a rival team. It’s my job as the principal of the team that I represent to defend it.”
“I think it was probably less than the pressure that our rivals were pushing on to not have a Safety Car. Or to back-track a lap. Or not to have a Virtual Safety Car, or for the Virtual Safety Car to go into a full Safety Car,” he added.
