Masi has been criticized for his handling of the Safety Car restart at the end of the race, a decision that proved crucial in determining the champion.
Follow Us
During the final phases of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean backed FIA Race Director Michael Masi’s decisions. Masi has been criticized for his handling of the Safety Car restart at the end of the race, a decision that proved crucial in determining the Drivers’ Championship winner. But Grosjean isn’t one of the critics of Masi, with the former Formula One driver and current IndyCar driver believing the beleaguered Race Director made the correct decision.
“There’s a few ways of seeing it,” Grosjean told media at an IndyCar press conference on Monday, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “It would have been very strange to not unlap those cars and have Lewis first and then Max four cars behind over one lap for the World Championship.”
“On the other hand, for Lewis it was definitely not a great call but, as a TV fan, as a spectator, for the sport, I think Michael Masi make the right decision. I don’t think the championship would have been nice to finish under the Safety Car. It would not have been nice to finish with the guys being separated on track being first and second separated by a few cars,” he added.
Grosjean went on to say that he had been rooting for Hamilton in the season finale, but that the Hamilton/Verstappen rivalry had been a highlight of the season. “I was more Lewis’ side than Max, so I was kind of, ‘Oh, Lewis lost it over the last part of the season; Max did the same, made an incredible job. But I thought it was so cool to get those two guys going together,” he said.
Read More – Mercedes announce the launch date for 2022 car W13 – find out here
But, as the season drew to a close and the ‘winner takes all’ situation in Abu Dhabi loomed, Grosjean declared it to be a race for the ages. “I loved it!” he said. “It was exciting; my heart was pumping like hell! And I think having two cars fighting over one lap for the World Championship was amazing,” the former Haas driver said.
“I think the wrong conception is to think that the World Championship went on one lap. It was 22 Grands Prix and, if you look at the full season, Max had the puncture in Baku, Valtteri Bottas crashed into Verstappen in Hungary, there was the Silverstone race. I think, at the end, if we look at how many points were lost by Verstappen, not necessarily by his fault, he was the one that deserved more the championship. On the Abu Dhabi race, Lewis deserved more the championship. He got unlucky over the last lap. But as a race fan, I loved that last lap, and it was super exciting to watch.”
