Not even former Crimson Bull boss Christian Horner obtained Mercedes chief Toto Wolff as riled up as one notorious determine from current Formulation 1 previous, who the Austrian clearly nonetheless has not forgiven
Toto Wolff continues to harbour loathing former Formulation 1 race director Michael Masi, 4 years after his controversial involvement within the 2021 title race finale, by branding the previous FIA official a “lunatic”. In a contemporary interview, the Mercedes boss additionally claimed Australian Masi had “destroyed the file of the best champion of all time”, in reference to his former driver Lewis Hamilton.
The Brit was denied victory within the dramatic conclusion of what had been an enthralling but fractious championship battle with Max Verstappen all through the marketing campaign. Hamilton was forward for almost all of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix decider however it all got here undone when a late collision introduced out the protection automotive.
It appeared Hamilton would triumph however Masi rapidly recalled the protection automotive to the pit lane earlier than the beginning of the ultimate lap so the end result of the race, and championship, might be determined below racing situations.
Hamilton, operating on extraordinarily worn tyres, couldn’t fend off Verstappen who handed him on the ultimate lap to assert his maiden World championship, cruelly denying his rival what would have been a record-breaking eighth title success.
Mercedes group principal Wolff’s response within the storage to the unfolding drama on observe stays amongst probably the most memorable moments of that deeply contentious end. The Austrian was seen on TV feeds smashing his headset onto a desk after telling Masi over the radio: “Michael, that is so not proper.”
Wolff referenced that response as he advised The Telegraph: “I’ve not skilled the lack of management of a scenario since I used to be a baby. There may be one lunatic who can mainly destroy the file of the best champion of all time.”
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In the identical interview, his spouse and chief govt of F1 Academy, Susie Wolff, stated of her personal response to what unfolded: “It was disbelief. That one individual’s choice to interpret the principles, in a means that that they had by no means been interpreted earlier than, may have brought on such an end result. It sat so closely with me, for a very long time afterwards.”
Following an inside probe into the occasions, the FIA decided that the race director’s “human error” had resulted in that conclusion to the race and championship struggle, although they discovered Masi had acted in good religion. Nonetheless, the Australian was faraway from his F1 race director position earlier than departing the governing physique completely, subsequently being appointed as chairman of the Supercars fee in his dwelling nation.
Masi additionally spoke out in an interview the place he revealed he and his household had been subjected to loss of life threats following the controversy. He stated: “I opened my messages that night time to verify in with them. I had no concept that I may obtain them from folks I didn’t know. However I used to be fallacious – I used to be confronted with a whole lot of messages. I would not say hundreds, however actually a whole lot.
“They had been surprising. Racist, abusive, vile, they known as me each title below the solar. And there have been loss of life threats, folks saying they had been going to come back after me and my household. They saved on coming. Not simply on my Fb but additionally on my LinkedIn, which is meant to be an expert platform for enterprise. It was the identical sort of abuse.”
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