Toto Wolff has made fresh claims about the relationship forged between former F1 race director Michael Masi and the Red Bull team.
In a new two-part Sky Sports F1 documentary called Duel: Hamilton v Verstappen, set to air on Sunday night at 7pm GMT, the Mercedes boss has taken further shots at the two key protagonists that ultimately denied Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking eighth World Championship at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Masi, now removed from his role as race director, had a sudden change of plan when Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed in the latter stage of a race which Hamilton had largely dominated.
He allowed only the lapped cars lodged between Hamilton and second-placed Verstappen to unlap themselves and essentially created a one-lap showdown between the title rivals, one that the Red Bull driver won having taken full advantage of his fresher tyres.
While Hamilton has made attempts to cool tensions and move past the events of the Abu Dhabi by making it clear he has no issues with Verstappen whatsoever, it is apparent that there is still some tension between the two teams given the new release of Wolff’s comments.
Wolff said that Masi and Red Bull’s sporting director Jonathan Wheatley had struck up a “bromance” over the course of the season, something which, in his view, influenced Masi’s decision-making process.
He added: “He’s [Wheatley] turned Michael Masi the race director, not only in Abu Dhabi but before, and probably Max owes him a lot.”
Wolff also made his feelings very clear on Masi himself.
“I haven’t spoken to him and I don’t want to speak to him ever again,” he stated.
“His decisions were wrong and I’m sure that he regrets them
“The FIA should have seen much earlier that there was a problem. There was a problem with the structure. There was a problem of personalities.”
Wolff also revealed that he had sympathy for Max Verstappen when assessing all of the fall-out from Abu Dhabi.
“I feel for Max,” Wolff said.
“He merits the World Championship, but there’s only talk about Abu Dhabi.”
Wolff’s latest comments come just days after the Red Bull camp continued to fan the flames of Abu Dhabi, with motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko partly blaming Lewis Hamilton’s silent treatment over the winter months as a contributing factor in the dismissal of Masi as race director.
For the new 2022 season, Masi has been replaced by WEC race director Eduardo Freitas and former DTM race director Niels Wittich on a rotating basis.
Source: Read Full Article