Michael Masi is no longer the FIA race director after the Australian played spoilsport in Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit of the 2021 world championship title. Of course, the entire racing fraternity has agreed upon the fact that Masi’s decisions in Abu Dhabi last year were highly unfair. But, was sacking him the best decision the FIA could have made? Well, Max Verstappen doesn’t think so!

The Dutchman slammed F1 for being the root cause of Masi’s sacking. He felt that it all began when the sport allowed teams to communicate with the race director in the middle of the main races. Hence, with both Red Bull and Mercedes individuals screaming into the ears of Masi in Abu Dhabi, the odds of him making the right call were fairly low.

What did Max Verstappen say?

Verstappen reckoned that the FIA threw Masi under the bus despite, on several occasions, lending their support to the Australian during the off-season.

“For me, it’s very unfair what happened to Michael because he’s really been thrown under the bus,” he told Sky Sports. “I think for Michael it’s very harsh for him because it feels like he’s just been put into the ground and I don’t think it’s fair. To sack him for me is not the right decision.”

“Of course, people talk a lot about what happened in Abu Dhabi, but can you imagine a referee in whatever sport has a coach, or equivalent, screaming in his ear all the time? Yellow card, red card, no decision, no foul!’. It’s impossible to make a decision.”

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F1 already allowed that: Verstappen

The 2021 world champion assigned part-blame on the sport itself for allowing the teams to communicate with Masi which consequently had a nasty effect on the end result.

“I think in the first place that F1 already allowed that team members can speak to him while making decisions, is very wrong because it needed to be Michael making the decisions on his own, without having people screaming in his ear,” he said.

“The people who did sack him allowed that in the first place, for me is unacceptable. Now they sacked him and I find that really incredible. I feel really sorry for Michael because I feel he was a really capable and good race director.”

Overall, while Hamilton welcomed the FIA’s decision, Verstappen has gone on to oppose it. But, in the battle of contradicting opinions, Verstappen has more support, as Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, too, called it unfair for sacking Masi altogether. So, will more drivers join in support of Masi?

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