Max Verstappen revealed that he had contacted Masi after feeling “really sad” about the decision to replace him with World Endurance Championship and ex-DTM race directors Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich respectively.
The FIA has decided to introduce a major reform to F1’s race control after the end of the 2021 season, with the director having a shared role for 2022.
Verstappen’s rival for last year’s title, Lewis Hamilton, said he would take time to rebuild his confidence in the FIA after losing “a little bit of faith in the system” following the events in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen, who met the F1 media for the first time since claiming his maiden world title after overtaking Hamilton on the final lap to win the race at Yas Marina, gave his take on the situation in early testing. 2022 pre-season in Barcelona.
Asked by Motorsport.com about the decision to sideline Masi, the Red Bull driver said: “I think it’s not right. Everybody always tries to do the best job, everybody does well with a helping hand.
“The drivers also have the whole team behind them. For me, what has happened to Michael is very unfair, they have really thrown him under the bus.”
“It’s unacceptable to me that he got fired like that. Basically [that he] got fired is really unbelievable. I’m really sorry for Michael. I think he was a valid and good race director.”
“I have nothing against the new ones, because I think they are also very capable and very good in their role, but personally, and for Michael, I felt very sad, I texted him.”
Verstappen believes the decision to sack Masi, who took over from Charlie Whiting as F1 race director after his sudden death in 2019, was wrong.
The situation has changed for 2022 as Freitas and Wittich will receive additional assistance as they work on race control, in what the governing body has likened to the VAR system in football as it is off the premises, probably in Geneva, where the FIA has offices.
“After Charlie’s death it’s very difficult to take over from someone like him,” Verstappen said. “He had a lot of experience from the previous years, and also Charlie had help around him.
“And maybe Michael needed a little more. Everybody needs experience. [When] I came into this sport, and in my first year, if I look back now, I was a complete rookie.”
“I’m much better than I was then and I think the same thing would have happened to Michael, so firing him, for me, is not the right decision, but I wish him all the best with whatever comes next, and I hope it’s better than being an F1 race director.
Verstappen also criticized F1’s previous agreement that allowed team bosses to contact the race director directly during live on-track action, a process that has been scrapped as part of reforms for 2022.
“People talk a lot about what was decided in Abu Dhabi, but can you imagine a referee in any sport having the coach yelling in his ear all the time?” said the Red Bull driver.
“For him to be saying: ‘yellow card!’, ‘red card!’, there is no foul! It is impossible to make a decision in that way, so I think that, first of all, that F1 already allowed that – that team members could talk to him to make decisions – [he was] very wrong.”
“Michael had to be the one to make the decisions himself, and having people yelling in his ear was difficult,” he concluded.
