Source:REUTERS/ELOISA SANCHEZ
[Saba Sports News] Recently, Toto Wolff once again publicly discussed the role played by former FIA Race Director Michael Masi in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The Mercedes Team Principal bluntly called Masi a “lunatic,” accusing him of ruining what could have been the greatest record in F1 history. At that time, Hamilton seemed poised for a dominant victory when Nicholas Latifi crashed at the exit of Turn 14. This brought out the Safety Car, with marshals working to remove the damaged Williams and clear debris scattered across the track to allow the race to resume. However, their cleanup pace was simply insufficient for the race to restart in time. After the debris was cleared, according to the regulations, all lapped cars needed to unlap themselves, followed by the Safety Car leading the field for one more lap to allow the lapped cars to rejoin the back. The problem was, only two laps remained in the race, and under the existing rules, the race should have ended under the Safety Car, meaning Hamilton, not Verstappen, should have won the race. The British driver would have thus secured his eighth World Championship, becoming the center of attention at Yas Marina Circuit that night. Masi, then responsible for upholding the integrity of the rules, decided to expedite the unlapping process, allowing only the cars between Hamilton (1st) and Verstappen (2nd) to unlap themselves and rejoin the back. The Safety Car procedure was also hastened to enable a final lap shootout to decide the World Champion. Verstappen seized the opportunity, overtaking Hamilton at Turn 5 amidst cheers from the crowd, crossing the finish line first to claim his maiden F1 World Championship.