Two months have passed since the controversial final race in Abu Dhabi , in which Max Verstappen won the world championship on the last lap against Lewis Hamilton, but the management of the last laps at Yas Marina is still being discussed today, especially by the British .
After days of controversy, the FIA opened an investigation that should lead to a review of the procedures to be adopted in the event that the safety car enters the track. The International Federation will listen to the opinion of drivers and teams before communicating the decisions made, which will be announced shortly before the start of the 2022 season of the Formula 1 championship.
At the presentation of the McLaren MCL36 last Friday, Ricciardo was brought up on the subject of race direction. The Australian defended Michael Masi , who ended up in the eye of the storm after a chaotic management in the last stages of the 2021 World Cup.
According to Ricciardo, Masi was subjected to excessive pressure that ended up conditioning his work.
“The whole sport now has more exposure and that on the one hand is a great thing, but on the other hand it puts pressure on those who don’t want to or aren’t used to managing the pressure. It’s hard to look back in time and think when a race director or a steward appeared so much in the media. It was quite strange.
Ricciardo believes there was “a lot of interference” that “probably made it more tangled than it should have been”.
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“I think everyone should take a step back. We’re all assigned roles and if that person is there for any reason, we should let them do their job.”
In recent days, a video of the final stages of the Abu Dhabi GP has circulated on the network where the communication between Michael Masi and the Red Bull sports director, Jonathan Wheatley , was heard, which exerted significant pressure on the race director for the management of bent cars.
Ricciardo spoke out on that matter and was highly critical of the pressure that both the Milton Keynes team and Mercedes have put on the race director.
“They probably made the whole thing more involved than it should have been. Less interference was needed and you had to let it do its thing and then figure out what would come of it.”
“If Michael wants to stay, then he should stay. I don’t think one event should affect everything.”
“Having experienced first-hand what happened between Hamilton and Verstappen was incredible. I had seen something similar in 2008, between Felipe Massa and Lewis, but at that time I was a spectator in front of the television and I thought that something like this would never happen again. , and instead it happened all over again.”
“In any case, I think Formula 1 lovers will continue to love it and I think the real fans are curious to see what will happen in 2022.”
Lando Norris, who renewed with McLaren until 2025, also spoke on the subject, asking for linear decisions from race direction.
“What obviously we all want is consistency because when something inconsistent happens, like that weekend, people get upset or frustrated. We just want that.”
“As drivers we make mistakes and it’s easy for people to notice. The same goes for race management. They’re human and it’s easy to make mistakes. I support Michael and I think he’s done great things in recent seasons.”
“But now it’s about working on those little details that can have a big impact. Formula 1 must remain a high-profile category. That end of the race is something that is still being talked about. We’ll see what decisions will be made.” .
