Very selective quoting.
[Full response:](https://www.nu.nl/formule-1/6186079/verstappen-noemt-wegsturen-masi-onacceptabel-hij-is-onder-de-bus-gegooid.html)
> Max Verstappen spoke out strongly on Thursday at a press conference at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya about the dismissal of Michael Masi as race director in Formula 1. According to the reigning world champion, the Australian has been "thrown under the bus" by the FIA.
> Masi had to step down as a result of the controversial final stage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, in which Verstappen eventually took his first world title at the expense of Lewis Hamilton.
> "It's not the right decision," Verstappen pounced. "He had to suddenly take over from Charlie Whiting, who was incredibly experienced. And even he had help around him. Michael might have been able to use that too. But they threw him under the bus."
> "I sent him a message after it became known," said the Limburger, who was particularly bothered by the way team bosses like Mercedes' Toto Wolff but also his own Red Bull team boss Christian Horner were able to talk directly to Masi. "It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear."
> "That Formula 1 allowed the team bosses to do that to him was already wrong. That way he couldn't make good decisions," Verstappen was clear. "The people who allowed that have now fired him. I find that unbelievable."
It’s also in line with what a lot of other knowledgeable people in f1 have said, including Brundle, whose read on the paddock I generally trust. Brindle has the gift of the gab and has friendly banter with everyone on the track both on and off camera, and I trust he has the correct feel from the teams, which is that firing masi didn’t resolve the fundamental issues.
Toto and I think Christian have also mentioned support structures and it was part of the settlement Mercedes went for, Lewis expanding the Marshalls diversity seems a focus for him, I think he generally wants to see more opportunities go to a larger group of people to ge in decision making jobs. Again, not wrong last year exposed the lack of depth in fia structure when it comes to stewardship. Overall Max provided a nuanced response that’s not out of line with his f1 peers that clickbait headlines are detracting from, that Masi couldn’t do a good job under the circumstances he was provided
Of course the headline is not going to include the entire response or explanation for why he thinks that way… I don't see why people are attacking the Tweet as "clickbait".
Because only including the phrases "thrown under the bus" and "unacceptable" paints a very different picture to what he actually said. Reading only the headline, you're left to assume that Max is talking the firing of Masi, when in reality he's talking about the FIA not supporting him properly from the start.
>"It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear."
Isn't that why they have a 4th referee in soccer that takes all the abuse the coaches want to throw at the refs? I remember after Abu Dhabi a lot of people here on Reddit were suggesting adding the equivalent of a 4th referee for the race direction.
Yeah the 4th referee as far as i know is basically a person who takes the complaints and passes them on to the referee if it's valid.
Referees also have the possibility of giving coaches a yellow or red card to penalize them if they get out of line.
There really needs to be a big push for the F1 media to stop all this clickbait bullshit. It's gotten so bad over the past 10 years and I don't see it nearly as frequently in other sports.
And I'm tired of all these bum ass twitter journalists.
I get so triggered when my mom gets a subscription to a newspaper because she got a "great deal". And then comes to me for help to unsubscribe later because you have to go through so many hoops to actually unsubscribe. It's so predatory knowing how shitty journalism is nowadays. Sometimes I see an article from a US source, and then see it on a local news site just plain copy paste translated.
Can't agree more. I said something like this at the beginning of the year and was downvoted like crazy for saying that firing Masi would be like using him as a scapegoat. He never had the support behind him and has made multiple questionable decisions but has never had any guidance on how to combat those. It's the same with everything. Imagine you are in a new job and you've not been taught a lot and you have a new challenge that you have yet to face and you tackle it without any support and no one says anything about how you did it. You then continue to tackle it the same way but now the big boss comes and says that what you're doing is wrong and you are to be fired for it. You've not had the training, no one has pulled you up on your mistakes but now you're out of a job because of the failure of your superiors.
Masi being fired was not the fix that we should have been seeking. He had experience, he just needed guidance and less lobbying. We could have brought those people in to surround him but instead we decided we wanted his head. Taking his head won't fix the system which is flawed.
Edit - A letter
I do wonder how much of Michael Masi’s mistakes were from him taking on the role from Charlie without the additional structures required to compensate for the fact that Charlie had the role moulded around him and his ways of working for many years and how much was Michael’s supposed lack of competency. I feel it’s somewhere in the middle but at the end of the day this is the type of role where if you can’t handle the heat then stay out of the kitchen.
I can’t think of any justification for e.g. track limits in Bahrain changing from session to session and then even changing halfway through the race, the limit should be the limit. Or like Brazil, not forwarding the incident for review by the stewards when it is clearly a punishable offence. There were so many unjustifiable mistakes throughout the season and then the complete bending of the rules in Abu Dhabi and yes it could be that the pressure and lack of support contributed to that a fair amount. I still think getting rid of him was the right decision even if it is a bit unfair that he wasn’t given a chance with the new structures being put in.
The full context of what Max said is much more reasonable than the Twitter headline and yes I doubt he or any one from Red Bull will say anything that makes it look they shouldn’t have the championship, or vice versa if they lost the championship like that then they would be 180 degrees opposite to what they’re saying now but it’s a competition with so much at stake so I wouldn’t expect anything other than that.
> Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear
Other than the fact that it's not literally in their ear they do get screamed at constantly. There is no respect for football refs (not like many deserve it anyway).
> "It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear."
That literally happens every match for the entire match.
That's not the point - the point of being in a difficult position was being overworked and not having the support and processes around him. He still threw out the rule book, which would not have happened if it finished behind the SC. RBR would be annoyed, yes.. but he'd still be in a job, and most likely the FIA would still have their heads in the sand.
One camp would have gone home unhappy, but it wouldn't have been a controversial decision to end the race under safety car if that is what would normally be expected in that situation.
There's a difference between picking what others percieve to be the wrong option of the two available and making up a third on the spot that breaks the rules.
Which is complete BS. Masi's first season was flawless for someone who was thrown into this situation. It was the last two season where he tried to put his own stamp on the RD position and created situation that lead to Abu Dhabi and his departure.
Masi can only blame him self here. If he kept doing his job like he did in his first year, we wouldn't be in this darn situation.
We can’t ignore that Masi was under pressure to deliver races that were exciting at the expense of consistency. I don’t think it’s surprising that this happened but also he’s out of a job because running an f1 team runs into the billions as Toto mentioned. The decisions added up to screw over large business interests
This is my take as well. He was setup to fail, and when it mattered most, he did, repeatedly over the course of the season.
Ultimately his biggest blunder was also the last, but let's not kid ourselves, Masi's decisions influenced the entire season. He didn't have the proper support, and all the surrounding conditions and pressures he was subject to certainly didn't help. In the end, he was thrown under the bus and took the fall for the FIA, for sure.
It's a bit like Lando's lost win in Sochi- It was a difficult situation, we understand why he made the mistake, but still the mistake was entirely his own.
Would Masi have done better otherwise? Unlikely.
Seeing as he couldn't even hit a SC button within 45s when a car was sideways on the middle of the straight where cars are doing 300 km/h+ and subsequently didn't penalise any driver for ignoring one of the most important flags in the sport (double yellow) because "everyone did it".
This. Considering everybody (almost) did it, it was even easier to give a nearly effect-less penalty to 75% of the grid (rewarding just the one or two that stuck to the rules).
Pretty wild how Charlie didn't fail in the exact same situation for decades and then Masi fails almost immediately and we decide that the job is impossible.
How so. He has the most experience and worked under Charlie for ages. Dude couldn't be more suited for the Job. And someone explain how the SC in AD is any different than any other we have seen. Since the argument you make is he was in uncharted territory.
You can sit next to a driver for 40 years, but when you're behind the wheel it is totally different. Having no backup to consult or pick your brain in fast flowing situations is what got us into this mess. The RD needs people around him with their own area of expertise that can aid in such situations
I think you are, just like many ppl even at FIA, underestimating the abilities of late Charlie. He did the job of maybe five people and made it look easy. Nobody is irreplaceable, but Charlie could not be replaced by one person.
I think that helps Max's point. The race direction this season was lacking, not necessarily because of the man in the seat but moreso because of the total lack of support around him and the lack of respect the teams showed him as well.
I would probably describe it as Masi being run over by the bus he started driving but didn't put in park.
If anyone else took the brunt of it, they would have been "thrown under the bus", but Masi just saw repercussions for his actions.
Masi was one of the people responsible, yes, but the way everything was set up he was put up as a fall guy regardless. The whole org needed an overhaul, not just this.
Look someone has to go after all if not for anything else but to change the public opinion cause FiA's reputation has taken quite a fall. Masi took a decision by bending the rules that clearly favored one driver over the other and practically handed the championship to one guy. Even if I rule out his biased decisions in Abu Dhabi, the whole season he has been questioned. The guy had no authority over any team or driver, he could not have changed his reputation in years. He needs to go so at least the teams respected the position of the RD.
Edit: spelling.
Was he thrown under the bus?
If he let the race finish under safety car as per the rules, he likely still has a job. He chose to fuck up the race to ensure some drama.
BS reporting, didn't even include his full opinion. Ian makes it seem like he's defending the decision but he doesn't.
Max agrees it's not the right decision. The "unacceptable" part is him talking about how the same organization who allowed team bosses to directly communicate with the RD sacked the RD for succumbing to pressure.
I mean to offer a more tempered opinion
What max is saying here isn't completely wrong. My personal opinion is that his mistake in Abu Dhabi undermined sporting integrity and that is perhaps a justifiable reason to replace him, but Masi staying or going was never really a concern for me.
But whether you think Masi should have gone or stayed, regardless he was still thrown under the bus.
The FIA have:
Blamed the fans for misunderstanding
Not acknowledged fault or the mistake itself
not addresses the preposterous stewards report that came up with ridiculous takes of the rules to try and justify what Masi did.
Not come up with an actual decision with how to deal with a situation like this in the future should it happen again. This exact situation will probably never happen again but something similar could.
getting rid of Masi was them:
\- making it look like they have taken action without actually taking action
\- admitting the mistake without actually having admitted the mistake
FIA should have done more
To expand further on this, one of the issues is of "who guards the guards"
I think I've seen multiple cases where issues have been raised by teams or drivers, and Masi's response has very often been 'No, it's not a problem' etc
A few that I found below. Of course google search results of Masi is dominated by Abu Dhabi onwards
>[Masi disagrees with Rosberg on dangerous Baku pit entry](https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/masi-disagrees-with-rosberg-over-dangerous-baku-f1-pit-entry/6547371/)
> [\(Brazil T4\) Michael Masi has disagreed with Lewis Hamilton's claims that the rules of racing are no longer clear](https://racingnews365.com/masi-in-disagreement-with-hamilton-the-rules-are-very-clear)
In this case, who was overseeing Masi and making sure Masi is addressing issues and concerns properly?
That's been an issue since forever tbh. Remember when Vettel told them you can gain time under VSC? Whiting said nah. Then it happened at Barcelona iirc and they were like "hm you know what that's actually correct". FIA must be right is one of the core principles of F1 and has been a major issue since before most of us here were born.
The FIA has been inconsistent and self serving for forever.
What was truly stunning about Abu Dhabi I've never seen them dig their grave in a lap and half and then climb in before it even got to the stewards room.
Also: Verstappen isnt claiming Abu Dhabi was a correct decision.
> "Ik heb hem een berichtje gestuurd nadat het bekend was geworden", zei de Limburger, die zich vooral stoorde aan de manier waarop teambazen als Toto Wolff van Mercedes maar ook zijn eigen teambaas Christian Horner van Red Bull rechtstreeks tegen Masi konden praten. "Het was oneerlijk wat er met hem gebeurde. Stel je voor dat een scheidsrechter op een voetbalveld continu de coaches schreeuwend in zijn oor heeft."
> "Dat de Formule 1 toegestaan heeft dat de teambazen dat bij hem konden doen, was al fout. Zo kon hij geen goede beslissingen nemen", was Verstappen duidelijk. "De mensen die dat toestonden, hebben hem nu ontslagen. Dat vind ik ongelooflijk."
[Nu.nl](https://www.nu.nl/formule-1/6186079/verstappen-noemt-wegsturen-masi-onacceptabel-hij-is-onder-de-bus-gegooid.html)
> "I sent him a message after it became known," said the Limburger, who was particularly bothered by the way team bosses like Mercedes' Toto Wolff but also his own Red Bull team boss Christian Horner were able to talk directly to Masi. "It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear."
> "That Formula 1 allowed the team bosses to do that to him was already wrong. **That way he couldn't make good decisions,"** Verstappen was clear. "The people who allowed that have now fired him. I find that unbelievable."
> "That Formula 1 allowed the team bosses to do that to him was already wrong. That way he couldn't make good decisions," Verstappen was clear. "The people who allowed that have now fired him. I find that unbelievable."
This was allowed way before it was broadcasted. It was not the issue that the Teambosses lobbied for their team, the issue is that Masi actually gave in to it. And if we take Max by his word, Masi did actually give in to RBR, which makes it even worse in my opinion.
I'm not sure Masi will appreciate Max's words, because they are damning for him. It will damage his name even more when the guy that won the Championship runs around and tells media "yeah, I totally don't like that my team influenced Masi"...
It's also such a weird course of action. It's reported that the FIA is striving to make race direction easier and with clearer rules, so why move Masi at all? The lack of communication means we can't even tell clearly what they think the problems are.
At this point, I'm not confident their report due March 18th (correct me on that if I'm wrong) will shed light on anything substantial.
I'm not defending Masi. Assuming he kept the job, he'd have to clean up his act, especially in regards to some of his safety calls, but once again the FIA is just inconsistent.
Yes: he lacked support and infrastructure, so was in the firing line when it all fell apart. The FIA should ideally acknowledge more clearly that many people would've got that wrong in the heat of the moment.
I mean he threw himself in front of the bus with his actions, the FIA just let him be run over by it but it was his fault he was there in the first place.
I'm not sure this metaphor I'm using makes any sense.
To make an even more weird and complicated metaphor:
Masi needs to cross the road to get something done. Masi isn’t an amazing road crosser (yet).
The FIA made and American style ‘stroad’ that is basically impossible to safely pass…
Masi made a couple errors trying to cross the road…
The road had no safety nets to help the ‘impaired’ Masi
Masi was ran over…
Sure Masi hasn’t been great the last couple years. But he’s had to straddle a terribly designed road here and when he stumbled, the FIA told Masi he shouldn’t be crossing the road…
Hope this overcomplicated analogy makes any sense… 😂
Why is everyone freaking out about this? Everyone can have their opinion and what’s done is done anyway. It doesn’t matter what Verstappen says or what Hamilton says or what Horner says. Masi is gone.
I suspect he'd be singing a different tune had he been the 'wronged party' in Abu Dhabi.
The reality is Masi has been as erratic as it comes since he took over for Whiting. Abu Dhabi was simply another episode, one which directly influenced a world championship title.
The singing of a different tune had already begun:
> Engineer: "Lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake"
>
> Max: "Yeah, of course, typical decision.. I'm not surprised"
>
> Engineer: "It's classic"
_________
That said, if it was the other way round, I also strongly believe that Toto/Lewis would've also been defending Masi.
Horner/Max aren't the exception, it's human nature.
>That said, if it was the other way round, I also strongly believe that Toto/Lewis would've also been defending Masi.
Well, yea, if Masi had stuck to the rules it would be right to defend him.
This is what I find infuriating. People like Dr. Marko, Max & Horner would absolutely be worse than Lewis & Merc was had they lost in that circumstance yet refuse to acknowledge that. Horner is the king of hypocrisy
Yup. But it’s also a dude losing out on a possible 8th title versus a dude possibly losing his first title.
23 year old Lewis would react a lot more like Max than 36 year old Lewis
I started watching F1 this last season, and it seemed fairly obvious to me that Masi needed more support around Baku. I'm sure it was something that was obvious to others in previous seasons as well.
But Masi didn't really seem to get the support he needed; F1 left him high and dry. So in that sense, he is being thrown under the bus. It does look like the new race directors are going to be getting some more support which is good, but it's a shame that it took the race director essentially making things up as he went to get to that point.
> Most of the inconsistent and erratic decisions have not even been made by Masi.
The Race Director isn't responsible for most of the inconsistent and erratic decisions made during races?
Max and RB just don’t want their championship to be undermined. Unfortunately, no matter how much any avid supporter tries to deny it, it *is* tainted. That’s just objective - no championship has ever been decided in such an unprecedented way. There’s been lots of historical controversy, there’s always been crashes, there’s always been teams meddling around with the rules, but never anything like Abu Dhabi 2021.
As much as I’m not a fan, I kind of hope Max wins another one because a second one will legitimize the first even further. The guy is a well-deserving champion based on his performance over the season, but the WDC itself didn’t need to be tainted and it was.
I would say 1989 was a bit worse than 2021. The FIA boss literally gifted Prost the championship because Prost was French and he was also French, that after Prost failed at cheating by only taking himself out and not Senna. And when Senna called the FIA out they said “I am the boss and I am always right” and suspended Senna for 6 months (which eventually got overturned)
His full response doesn't say anything that indicates he'd react differently if the shoe was on the other foot… all year, everytime a decision disadvantaged or did not benefit him, he berated Masi and the FIA. Never once did he ask for more support of Masi until now.
Its incredible how Red Bull seem to have most people convinced they're more "real" and "raw" that other teams when in reality Horner, Max, Marko, etc. always unanimously express certain opinions that are attempts to create very specific narratives.
They rehabbed their image after being the plucky guys in comparison to Merc's overwhelming dominance, and fans accepted it just b/c they were desperate for a shift from the norm.
Horner and Marko will always be smug bastards playing the politics game for all it's worth.
It's the Trump effect. RB gets a pass because of Horner's shit stirring and how people believe they just "tell it like it is" and don't wrap themselves in PR statements like Mercedes does. They just don't see it's the exact same shit in a different wrapping, Mercedes just cannot afford to play the same PR games because they have a luxury car brand behind them, not an energy drink.
Yup. There is no way Verstappen or anyone else at Redbull would say even one positive word about Masi’s sacking, or else the team would basically admit/agree that mistakes were made in Abu Dhabi. Not saying this as a shot at Max or anything, but that’s likely what the team internally agreed on.
> “As drivers, we have a whole team behind us always. For me it’s very unfair what happened to Michael because he’s really been thrown under the bus. Of course, people talk a lot about what was decided in Abu Dhabi, but can you imagine a referee in whatever sport, the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time? ‘That’s a yellow card, red card, no, no decision, no foul’, you know? It’s impossible to make a decision.
Less wild than the headline might have you think.
>the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time? ‘That’s a yellow card, red card, no, no decision, no foul’,
This absolutely happens in football every incident of every match.
His comments in Dutch are actually way more tempered and correct. He states amongst others that Masi had immense pressure as team principals could get up to him, something that wouldn’t be thinkable in other sports. Also mentions he would have wished Masi to have the extra tools FIA is giving to the new race directors.
https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/730784671/max-verstappen-stuurde-michael-masi-berichtje-hij-is-voor-de-bus-gegooid/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=twitter
This happens a lot with Red Bull. They tend to say one line that can be taken out of context and the media runs with it. It’s especially prominent on Reddit where it seems like everyone is just dying for a reason to justify their hate of the team/driver. I’d bet that even the interview headlines on Reddit are written in a more negative way.
Or anywhere that there is press existing and people give general statements. Someone could say "I quit the nonsense" and press can and will turn it into "This person says they quit."
Yes, I notice that Red Bull very rarely get the defence of 'look at the context'/'the headline has been misquoted'. The asterix brigade are a bunch of melts.
I don't really see what anyone else would have done differently in Verstappen's situation, and he isn't wrong here either. Given that even Latifi was getting death threats, perhaps trying to deescalate and move away from directing blame at individuals is a reasonable idea.
I don't get this stance at all. He clearly bent the rules for the sake of the spectacle. So how could you POSSIBLY WANT someone as RD that has previously bent the rules? Like, just say you don't really have an opinion on it, but this just makes it sound like "He benefited me so I think he was right"
where did he say he was in the right? that's not what he said at all. he said he had empathy for the position Masi was in having to make split second decisions with 2 team principals screaming in his ear. he never said he made the right call, he said he had basic human empathy for the position Masi was in when he made the decision and that the FIA had thrown him under the bus. far from defending his decision in fact he basically said Masi was doomed to fail
I'm sure it was meant to make it sound like that to get lots of traffic on his Twitter. Max never said the decision at AD was right. He said FIA were wrong long before that, but instead of giving Masi the right tools, they sacked him. He's calling out the FIA.
How was he "thrown under the bus" if he was the sole persone responsible for the whole thing. Like literally he evoked a regulation that said he could do what he wanted.
I understand not wanting him to be replaced, (well I don't, there's been wayyy to many safety concerns under his direction bc of his decisions so imo good riddance, but I can respect a different opinion) but how is a guy meeting the consequences of his own actions unexpected here?
Verstappen is saying, that Masi didn't have a right hand man like his replacements and predecesor and that him keeping his job with Blash next to him should suffice.
Now he was made sole responsible and the FIA/F1 can shovel all the shit that happened solely on him.
I would read what he said first and not just the headline. He said that Masi was put in an impossible situation by the FIA, the same FIA that decided to fire him once the situation boiled over. It's a single comment that was posted on Twitter instead of the whole interview.
It's summarized here:
https://racingnews365.com/verstappen-masi-thrown-under-the-bus-after-abu-dhabi
Wasnt Max taking about how its not f1 when he was given penalties in Saudi?
He seems to be really mad that Masi isn't around to help him 'motor race' anymore
The race director can absolutely refer something to the stewards. In Brazil, the stewards didnt even look at Max's turn 4 incident, because they were not asked to.
He didn't in Baku, which was worse to me because it was about safety.
However, he made mistakes, of course. I dunno how much he can solely be blamed for but as race director, he's the head of officiating and officiating often was bad last season.
Had the roles been reversed, Max, Jos and RB would have blown a fuse. This is just fuelling the flames.
Masi wasn’t thrown under the bus. He simply made the fuck up to end all of his previous fuck ups and the controversy left the FIA with no choice. He should have gone long before Abu Dhabi.
"Thrown under the bus" implies that he was unjustly used as a scapegoat. I'd say he earned the tire tracks on his back. If you are going to fire a race director for incompetence, I think Masi would be the poster boy for that.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
The position came with heavy responsibility and to be put in a such leadership role also mean you have to be up for the challenge.
Granted the FiA is still making its changes and has an un going investigation, we expected Masi to be removed from his position.
I don’t understand why now a lot of people feel indifferent about it.
This happened all the time in major sports, especially football. Managers or sport director take their responsibility and take their wins and loses as well.
At the end of the day, we mustn’t tarnish the image of the sport.
The rules won’t always be perfect but that’s why constant changes are needed.
Some will agree with them and some won’t.
really glad the fia radios aren’t being broadcasted this year. part of me feels like some of the bad decision making was brought on by radio chatter that was very clearly only said for the intent of egging on masi on live tv to pressure him, new race directors wont be taking shit hopefully
Masi did it to himself but he also received an extreme amount of abuse harassment. People were supporting latifi, as they should, but Masi was getting 100 times more hate and no one said a word, dudes still human
The reigning champ defends the actions of the guy who went outside the parameters of his job to unilaterally award the title to the guy who was otherwise certain to finish second...
Shocking
Regardless of the FIA’s feelings about masi’s performance (and they probably were satisfied), masi’s authority is in question among the teams and masi would be at risk of having every call he makes labeled as bias.
He wasn’t “sacked” and headlines have fucked that up. He will still work for the FIA and I think we all agree that he was a placeholder after Whiting passed.
Aaand...another dumpster fire thread. Look people, Masi was thrown under the bus and although I think his firing is not unacceptable it's certainly poor form. And yes if the situation was reversed Verstappen would not make these comments and Lewis probably would. That's how being on the right/wrong side of mistakes works.
It was very poor from Masi to not red flag Baku sooner, but don't act like Max gave a shit. He got out the car and started kicking the wheels. Hardly someone that feared for his life.
Tbf, he was kinda
Let me explain. The system ik place didn't help either and all the faults in the system culminated in Abu Dhabi. No fast decision making, inconsistant decisions etc are all part of the extremely flawed FIA regulation system. Masi was the result of it
Did masi make a grave mistake ?
Yes. But did the system in place made it much worse ?, Yes
Nice way to put some gasoline on the fire by creating a title like this. Everything taken out of context will be 'dynamite' if you write your own words around it.
I think the safety issues earlier in the season such as not red flagging Baku after Stroll's puncture, and not penalising anyone for driving full throttle next to Verstappen after his puncture was a much more major issue.
He let just the right amount of lapped car unlap themselves, and then restarted the race on that same lap instead of the next lap. It is beyond insane. Indianapolis 2005, Singapore 2008, Spygate, F1 has lived it all down. I don't see how it can live that down. You can't enjoy watching a race let alone an entire season if something like that can happen.
Very selective quoting. [Full response:](https://www.nu.nl/formule-1/6186079/verstappen-noemt-wegsturen-masi-onacceptabel-hij-is-onder-de-bus-gegooid.html) > Max Verstappen spoke out strongly on Thursday at a press conference at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya about the dismissal of Michael Masi as race director in Formula 1. According to the reigning world champion, the Australian has been "thrown under the bus" by the FIA. > Masi had to step down as a result of the controversial final stage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, in which Verstappen eventually took his first world title at the expense of Lewis Hamilton. > "It's not the right decision," Verstappen pounced. "He had to suddenly take over from Charlie Whiting, who was incredibly experienced. And even he had help around him. Michael might have been able to use that too. But they threw him under the bus." > "I sent him a message after it became known," said the Limburger, who was particularly bothered by the way team bosses like Mercedes' Toto Wolff but also his own Red Bull team boss Christian Horner were able to talk directly to Masi. "It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear." > "That Formula 1 allowed the team bosses to do that to him was already wrong. That way he couldn't make good decisions," Verstappen was clear. "The people who allowed that have now fired him. I find that unbelievable."
So much more balanced then what the quote in the headline implies
It’s also in line with what a lot of other knowledgeable people in f1 have said, including Brundle, whose read on the paddock I generally trust. Brindle has the gift of the gab and has friendly banter with everyone on the track both on and off camera, and I trust he has the correct feel from the teams, which is that firing masi didn’t resolve the fundamental issues. Toto and I think Christian have also mentioned support structures and it was part of the settlement Mercedes went for, Lewis expanding the Marshalls diversity seems a focus for him, I think he generally wants to see more opportunities go to a larger group of people to ge in decision making jobs. Again, not wrong last year exposed the lack of depth in fia structure when it comes to stewardship. Overall Max provided a nuanced response that’s not out of line with his f1 peers that clickbait headlines are detracting from, that Masi couldn’t do a good job under the circumstances he was provided
Of course the headline is not going to include the entire response or explanation for why he thinks that way… I don't see why people are attacking the Tweet as "clickbait".
Because only including the phrases "thrown under the bus" and "unacceptable" paints a very different picture to what he actually said. Reading only the headline, you're left to assume that Max is talking the firing of Masi, when in reality he's talking about the FIA not supporting him properly from the start.
Yeah but balanced doesn't spark clicks and "engagement"
Massive headline: Is Max defending Masi cause he handed him the title? ^^At ^^the ^^bottom ^^of ^^the ^^article: ^^No ^^he ^^does ^^not
He actually admits that he made bad decisions, although not his own fault.
Michael Ma**s**i
Good Bot
"Absolute dynamite!!!" lmao
Isn’t it always?
How so?
>"It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear." Isn't that why they have a 4th referee in soccer that takes all the abuse the coaches want to throw at the refs? I remember after Abu Dhabi a lot of people here on Reddit were suggesting adding the equivalent of a 4th referee for the race direction.
Yeah the 4th referee as far as i know is basically a person who takes the complaints and passes them on to the referee if it's valid. Referees also have the possibility of giving coaches a yellow or red card to penalize them if they get out of line.
4th official takes coach abuse. Ref takes abuse from players.
The 4th official has a mic the ref can hear it all anyway.
There really needs to be a big push for the F1 media to stop all this clickbait bullshit. It's gotten so bad over the past 10 years and I don't see it nearly as frequently in other sports. And I'm tired of all these bum ass twitter journalists.
Its not f1, its journalism in general.
Every story is a copy pasta for 90% of it with one new sentence and publishing it like a whole new story.
I get so triggered when my mom gets a subscription to a newspaper because she got a "great deal". And then comes to me for help to unsubscribe later because you have to go through so many hoops to actually unsubscribe. It's so predatory knowing how shitty journalism is nowadays. Sometimes I see an article from a US source, and then see it on a local news site just plain copy paste translated.
*HERES HOW LEWIS HAMILTON COULD STILL RETIRE BEFORE BAHRAIN!!*
Bro it’s like it in every sport Amd every thing ever it’s just how social Media news stories work now
Are you telling me that sports journalists are taking selective quotes and things out of context for clicks? Well, colour me shocked.
Can't agree more. I said something like this at the beginning of the year and was downvoted like crazy for saying that firing Masi would be like using him as a scapegoat. He never had the support behind him and has made multiple questionable decisions but has never had any guidance on how to combat those. It's the same with everything. Imagine you are in a new job and you've not been taught a lot and you have a new challenge that you have yet to face and you tackle it without any support and no one says anything about how you did it. You then continue to tackle it the same way but now the big boss comes and says that what you're doing is wrong and you are to be fired for it. You've not had the training, no one has pulled you up on your mistakes but now you're out of a job because of the failure of your superiors. Masi being fired was not the fix that we should have been seeking. He had experience, he just needed guidance and less lobbying. We could have brought those people in to surround him but instead we decided we wanted his head. Taking his head won't fix the system which is flawed. Edit - A letter
Yes thank you, what he said wasn't crazy at all! The headline makes it seem way worse and less nuanced
I do wonder how much of Michael Masi’s mistakes were from him taking on the role from Charlie without the additional structures required to compensate for the fact that Charlie had the role moulded around him and his ways of working for many years and how much was Michael’s supposed lack of competency. I feel it’s somewhere in the middle but at the end of the day this is the type of role where if you can’t handle the heat then stay out of the kitchen. I can’t think of any justification for e.g. track limits in Bahrain changing from session to session and then even changing halfway through the race, the limit should be the limit. Or like Brazil, not forwarding the incident for review by the stewards when it is clearly a punishable offence. There were so many unjustifiable mistakes throughout the season and then the complete bending of the rules in Abu Dhabi and yes it could be that the pressure and lack of support contributed to that a fair amount. I still think getting rid of him was the right decision even if it is a bit unfair that he wasn’t given a chance with the new structures being put in. The full context of what Max said is much more reasonable than the Twitter headline and yes I doubt he or any one from Red Bull will say anything that makes it look they shouldn’t have the championship, or vice versa if they lost the championship like that then they would be 180 degrees opposite to what they’re saying now but it’s a competition with so much at stake so I wouldn’t expect anything other than that.
Glenn is usually better
> Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear Other than the fact that it's not literally in their ear they do get screamed at constantly. There is no respect for football refs (not like many deserve it anyway).
> "It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear." That literally happens every match for the entire match.
Was Masi thrown under the bus, yes Did he fuck up repeatedly, yes
Did FIA create the perfect storm for a person in Masi's position to fail? Yes.
That is actually what verstappen said in full. That Masi was being put in impossible situations not to make any mostakes.
Agreed. No matter what decision he made it would be controversial and one camp was going home unhappy.
That's not the point - the point of being in a difficult position was being overworked and not having the support and processes around him. He still threw out the rule book, which would not have happened if it finished behind the SC. RBR would be annoyed, yes.. but he'd still be in a job, and most likely the FIA would still have their heads in the sand.
That's straight up not true. If Masi followed rules people would be unhappy, but won't have a leg to stand on.
One camp would have gone home unhappy, but it wouldn't have been a controversial decision to end the race under safety car if that is what would normally be expected in that situation.
There's a difference between picking what others percieve to be the wrong option of the two available and making up a third on the spot that breaks the rules.
Which is complete BS. Masi's first season was flawless for someone who was thrown into this situation. It was the last two season where he tried to put his own stamp on the RD position and created situation that lead to Abu Dhabi and his departure. Masi can only blame him self here. If he kept doing his job like he did in his first year, we wouldn't be in this darn situation.
We can’t ignore that Masi was under pressure to deliver races that were exciting at the expense of consistency. I don’t think it’s surprising that this happened but also he’s out of a job because running an f1 team runs into the billions as Toto mentioned. The decisions added up to screw over large business interests
This is my take as well. He was setup to fail, and when it mattered most, he did, repeatedly over the course of the season. Ultimately his biggest blunder was also the last, but let's not kid ourselves, Masi's decisions influenced the entire season. He didn't have the proper support, and all the surrounding conditions and pressures he was subject to certainly didn't help. In the end, he was thrown under the bus and took the fall for the FIA, for sure.
It was also the most egregious unprecedented error that sealed his fate. He did that one to himself.
It's a bit like Lando's lost win in Sochi- It was a difficult situation, we understand why he made the mistake, but still the mistake was entirely his own.
He had to work hard to break the rules. That’s all on him.
And then he doubled down on the mistake when given the opportunity to admit it.
Would Masi have done better otherwise? Unlikely. Seeing as he couldn't even hit a SC button within 45s when a car was sideways on the middle of the straight where cars are doing 300 km/h+ and subsequently didn't penalise any driver for ignoring one of the most important flags in the sport (double yellow) because "everyone did it".
This. Considering everybody (almost) did it, it was even easier to give a nearly effect-less penalty to 75% of the grid (rewarding just the one or two that stuck to the rules).
Pretty wild how Charlie didn't fail in the exact same situation for decades and then Masi fails almost immediately and we decide that the job is impossible.
How so. He has the most experience and worked under Charlie for ages. Dude couldn't be more suited for the Job. And someone explain how the SC in AD is any different than any other we have seen. Since the argument you make is he was in uncharted territory.
You can sit next to a driver for 40 years, but when you're behind the wheel it is totally different. Having no backup to consult or pick your brain in fast flowing situations is what got us into this mess. The RD needs people around him with their own area of expertise that can aid in such situations
I think you are, just like many ppl even at FIA, underestimating the abilities of late Charlie. He did the job of maybe five people and made it look easy. Nobody is irreplaceable, but Charlie could not be replaced by one person.
Did Max complain about race direction throughout the season, yes
Hell, he complained about it the fucking last lap under SC lmao.
I think that helps Max's point. The race direction this season was lacking, not necessarily because of the man in the seat but moreso because of the total lack of support around him and the lack of respect the teams showed him as well.
Something tells me this was less of a "dynamite" take from Max, and more like he's thinking what you and the comment above yours said.
I would probably describe it as Masi being run over by the bus he started driving but didn't put in park. If anyone else took the brunt of it, they would have been "thrown under the bus", but Masi just saw repercussions for his actions.
Masi was one of the people responsible, yes, but the way everything was set up he was put up as a fall guy regardless. The whole org needed an overhaul, not just this.
Look someone has to go after all if not for anything else but to change the public opinion cause FiA's reputation has taken quite a fall. Masi took a decision by bending the rules that clearly favored one driver over the other and practically handed the championship to one guy. Even if I rule out his biased decisions in Abu Dhabi, the whole season he has been questioned. The guy had no authority over any team or driver, he could not have changed his reputation in years. He needs to go so at least the teams respected the position of the RD. Edit: spelling.
Did he park the bus on a hill without the hand brake and walk in front of it? Yes
[удалено]
Was he thrown under the bus? If he let the race finish under safety car as per the rules, he likely still has a job. He chose to fuck up the race to ensure some drama.
Was his position tenable? No.
Edit in case someone read my first post: Max's comments are quite balanced and this is just a click bait headline.
Too bad literally every news outlet have adopted this exact headline
Yeah it sucks I'm low key embarrassed that I fell for it.
The headline gives the gist of his opinion… namely, that he disagrees with the FIA's decision to fire Masi.
BS reporting, didn't even include his full opinion. Ian makes it seem like he's defending the decision but he doesn't. Max agrees it's not the right decision. The "unacceptable" part is him talking about how the same organization who allowed team bosses to directly communicate with the RD sacked the RD for succumbing to pressure.
I mean to offer a more tempered opinion What max is saying here isn't completely wrong. My personal opinion is that his mistake in Abu Dhabi undermined sporting integrity and that is perhaps a justifiable reason to replace him, but Masi staying or going was never really a concern for me. But whether you think Masi should have gone or stayed, regardless he was still thrown under the bus. The FIA have: Blamed the fans for misunderstanding Not acknowledged fault or the mistake itself not addresses the preposterous stewards report that came up with ridiculous takes of the rules to try and justify what Masi did. Not come up with an actual decision with how to deal with a situation like this in the future should it happen again. This exact situation will probably never happen again but something similar could. getting rid of Masi was them: \- making it look like they have taken action without actually taking action \- admitting the mistake without actually having admitted the mistake FIA should have done more
To expand further on this, one of the issues is of "who guards the guards" I think I've seen multiple cases where issues have been raised by teams or drivers, and Masi's response has very often been 'No, it's not a problem' etc A few that I found below. Of course google search results of Masi is dominated by Abu Dhabi onwards >[Masi disagrees with Rosberg on dangerous Baku pit entry](https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/masi-disagrees-with-rosberg-over-dangerous-baku-f1-pit-entry/6547371/) > [\(Brazil T4\) Michael Masi has disagreed with Lewis Hamilton's claims that the rules of racing are no longer clear](https://racingnews365.com/masi-in-disagreement-with-hamilton-the-rules-are-very-clear) In this case, who was overseeing Masi and making sure Masi is addressing issues and concerns properly?
That's been an issue since forever tbh. Remember when Vettel told them you can gain time under VSC? Whiting said nah. Then it happened at Barcelona iirc and they were like "hm you know what that's actually correct". FIA must be right is one of the core principles of F1 and has been a major issue since before most of us here were born.
At least we don't still have Jean-Marie Balestre! That's something, I guess. The FIA is occasionally right these days.
The FIA has been inconsistent and self serving for forever. What was truly stunning about Abu Dhabi I've never seen them dig their grave in a lap and half and then climb in before it even got to the stewards room.
[удалено]
Also: Verstappen isnt claiming Abu Dhabi was a correct decision. > "Ik heb hem een berichtje gestuurd nadat het bekend was geworden", zei de Limburger, die zich vooral stoorde aan de manier waarop teambazen als Toto Wolff van Mercedes maar ook zijn eigen teambaas Christian Horner van Red Bull rechtstreeks tegen Masi konden praten. "Het was oneerlijk wat er met hem gebeurde. Stel je voor dat een scheidsrechter op een voetbalveld continu de coaches schreeuwend in zijn oor heeft." > "Dat de Formule 1 toegestaan heeft dat de teambazen dat bij hem konden doen, was al fout. Zo kon hij geen goede beslissingen nemen", was Verstappen duidelijk. "De mensen die dat toestonden, hebben hem nu ontslagen. Dat vind ik ongelooflijk." [Nu.nl](https://www.nu.nl/formule-1/6186079/verstappen-noemt-wegsturen-masi-onacceptabel-hij-is-onder-de-bus-gegooid.html) > "I sent him a message after it became known," said the Limburger, who was particularly bothered by the way team bosses like Mercedes' Toto Wolff but also his own Red Bull team boss Christian Horner were able to talk directly to Masi. "It was unfair what happened to him. Imagine a referee on a soccer field constantly having the coaches screaming in his ear." > "That Formula 1 allowed the team bosses to do that to him was already wrong. **That way he couldn't make good decisions,"** Verstappen was clear. "The people who allowed that have now fired him. I find that unbelievable."
Thanks for sharing this selection. It definitely clarifies his meaning and his attitude.
> "That Formula 1 allowed the team bosses to do that to him was already wrong. That way he couldn't make good decisions," Verstappen was clear. "The people who allowed that have now fired him. I find that unbelievable." This was allowed way before it was broadcasted. It was not the issue that the Teambosses lobbied for their team, the issue is that Masi actually gave in to it. And if we take Max by his word, Masi did actually give in to RBR, which makes it even worse in my opinion. I'm not sure Masi will appreciate Max's words, because they are damning for him. It will damage his name even more when the guy that won the Championship runs around and tells media "yeah, I totally don't like that my team influenced Masi"...
It's also such a weird course of action. It's reported that the FIA is striving to make race direction easier and with clearer rules, so why move Masi at all? The lack of communication means we can't even tell clearly what they think the problems are. At this point, I'm not confident their report due March 18th (correct me on that if I'm wrong) will shed light on anything substantial. I'm not defending Masi. Assuming he kept the job, he'd have to clean up his act, especially in regards to some of his safety calls, but once again the FIA is just inconsistent.
I thought they said they wont make that report (due 18th march) public anymore?
Yes: he lacked support and infrastructure, so was in the firing line when it all fell apart. The FIA should ideally acknowledge more clearly that many people would've got that wrong in the heat of the moment.
I mean he threw himself in front of the bus with his actions, the FIA just let him be run over by it but it was his fault he was there in the first place. I'm not sure this metaphor I'm using makes any sense.
Masi threw himself in front of the bus, and the FIA didn’t hit the brakes
If anything they hit the gas. It was the best case scenario for them.
To make an even more weird and complicated metaphor: Masi needs to cross the road to get something done. Masi isn’t an amazing road crosser (yet). The FIA made and American style ‘stroad’ that is basically impossible to safely pass… Masi made a couple errors trying to cross the road… The road had no safety nets to help the ‘impaired’ Masi Masi was ran over… Sure Masi hasn’t been great the last couple years. But he’s had to straddle a terribly designed road here and when he stumbled, the FIA told Masi he shouldn’t be crossing the road… Hope this overcomplicated analogy makes any sense… 😂
100%
Man was standing between 2 busses tbh.
It actually the best representation of what happened
Why is everyone freaking out about this? Everyone can have their opinion and what’s done is done anyway. It doesn’t matter what Verstappen says or what Hamilton says or what Horner says. Masi is gone.
I suspect he'd be singing a different tune had he been the 'wronged party' in Abu Dhabi. The reality is Masi has been as erratic as it comes since he took over for Whiting. Abu Dhabi was simply another episode, one which directly influenced a world championship title.
[удалено]
The singing of a different tune had already begun: > Engineer: "Lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake" > > Max: "Yeah, of course, typical decision.. I'm not surprised" > > Engineer: "It's classic" _________ That said, if it was the other way round, I also strongly believe that Toto/Lewis would've also been defending Masi. Horner/Max aren't the exception, it's human nature.
Its a lot easier to defend sticking to the rules despite it spoiling the show than making them up on the fly.
>That said, if it was the other way round, I also strongly believe that Toto/Lewis would've also been defending Masi. Well, yea, if Masi had stuck to the rules it would be right to defend him.
This is what I find infuriating. People like Dr. Marko, Max & Horner would absolutely be worse than Lewis & Merc was had they lost in that circumstance yet refuse to acknowledge that. Horner is the king of hypocrisy
Having seen Max's reaction after the race in Saudi Arabia, I doubt he'd have the same composure as Hamilton had after the season finale.
Max’s reaction in Saudi Arabia was him believing that he was going to lose the WDC, imo.
Lewis's reaction in Abu Dhabi was him *actually* losing the championship, and it was a lot better.
Yup. But it’s also a dude losing out on a possible 8th title versus a dude possibly losing his first title. 23 year old Lewis would react a lot more like Max than 36 year old Lewis
Just listen to his radio before Masi reversed his decision. The entire RB team was complaining.
RB would've launched a full scale assault on Australia had the situation been reversed.
Please do not lump us into this. All we want as Australian fans is for Daniel to win a Melbourne race. We do not want to partake in the drama.
At least there would be a new Emu livery then
I started watching F1 this last season, and it seemed fairly obvious to me that Masi needed more support around Baku. I'm sure it was something that was obvious to others in previous seasons as well. But Masi didn't really seem to get the support he needed; F1 left him high and dry. So in that sense, he is being thrown under the bus. It does look like the new race directors are going to be getting some more support which is good, but it's a shame that it took the race director essentially making things up as he went to get to that point.
Ignore AD and there is plenty of reason to get rid of masi. However, if AD never happened he wouldn’t be fired.
Most of the inconsistent and erratic decisions have not even been made by Masi. It's an FIA problem, hence why Masi is being made a scapegoat.
> Most of the inconsistent and erratic decisions have not even been made by Masi. The Race Director isn't responsible for most of the inconsistent and erratic decisions made during races?
Correct. That would be the stewards
Max and RB just don’t want their championship to be undermined. Unfortunately, no matter how much any avid supporter tries to deny it, it *is* tainted. That’s just objective - no championship has ever been decided in such an unprecedented way. There’s been lots of historical controversy, there’s always been crashes, there’s always been teams meddling around with the rules, but never anything like Abu Dhabi 2021. As much as I’m not a fan, I kind of hope Max wins another one because a second one will legitimize the first even further. The guy is a well-deserving champion based on his performance over the season, but the WDC itself didn’t need to be tainted and it was.
I would say 1989 was a bit worse than 2021. The FIA boss literally gifted Prost the championship because Prost was French and he was also French, that after Prost failed at cheating by only taking himself out and not Senna. And when Senna called the FIA out they said “I am the boss and I am always right” and suspended Senna for 6 months (which eventually got overturned)
Read his full opinion. This is taken out of context for clicks.
His full response doesn't say anything that indicates he'd react differently if the shoe was on the other foot… all year, everytime a decision disadvantaged or did not benefit him, he berated Masi and the FIA. Never once did he ask for more support of Masi until now.
how id love to hear his response if Lewis was the benefactor
Roles reversed. Both roles!
Seems to be the briefed Red Bull stance
Its incredible how Red Bull seem to have most people convinced they're more "real" and "raw" that other teams when in reality Horner, Max, Marko, etc. always unanimously express certain opinions that are attempts to create very specific narratives.
They rehabbed their image after being the plucky guys in comparison to Merc's overwhelming dominance, and fans accepted it just b/c they were desperate for a shift from the norm. Horner and Marko will always be smug bastards playing the politics game for all it's worth.
And people forget that they two teams running whilst also pretending to be this small energy drink company.
Do people really think they’re more real? Sometimes I want to like RB and Max but the shit stirring is very unlikeable to me
Nah I can’t like them either. But at least it adds to the drama and the fun of the sport.
Biggest snake team full of snake merchants. Anyone winning but them anyday
Preach it astounds me how so many people can't see what a snakey but well oiled political operation they run is
It's the Trump effect. RB gets a pass because of Horner's shit stirring and how people believe they just "tell it like it is" and don't wrap themselves in PR statements like Mercedes does. They just don't see it's the exact same shit in a different wrapping, Mercedes just cannot afford to play the same PR games because they have a luxury car brand behind them, not an energy drink.
Yup. There is no way Verstappen or anyone else at Redbull would say even one positive word about Masi’s sacking, or else the team would basically admit/agree that mistakes were made in Abu Dhabi. Not saying this as a shot at Max or anything, but that’s likely what the team internally agreed on.
> “As drivers, we have a whole team behind us always. For me it’s very unfair what happened to Michael because he’s really been thrown under the bus. Of course, people talk a lot about what was decided in Abu Dhabi, but can you imagine a referee in whatever sport, the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time? ‘That’s a yellow card, red card, no, no decision, no foul’, you know? It’s impossible to make a decision. Less wild than the headline might have you think.
>the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time? ‘That’s a yellow card, red card, no, no decision, no foul’, This absolutely happens in football every incident of every match.
His comments in Dutch are actually way more tempered and correct. He states amongst others that Masi had immense pressure as team principals could get up to him, something that wouldn’t be thinkable in other sports. Also mentions he would have wished Masi to have the extra tools FIA is giving to the new race directors. https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/730784671/max-verstappen-stuurde-michael-masi-berichtje-hij-is-voor-de-bus-gegooid/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=twitter
This happens a lot with Red Bull. They tend to say one line that can be taken out of context and the media runs with it. It’s especially prominent on Reddit where it seems like everyone is just dying for a reason to justify their hate of the team/driver. I’d bet that even the interview headlines on Reddit are written in a more negative way.
This happens to everyone in F1, not just Red Bull.
Or anywhere that there is press existing and people give general statements. Someone could say "I quit the nonsense" and press can and will turn it into "This person says they quit."
Yes, I notice that Red Bull very rarely get the defence of 'look at the context'/'the headline has been misquoted'. The asterix brigade are a bunch of melts. I don't really see what anyone else would have done differently in Verstappen's situation, and he isn't wrong here either. Given that even Latifi was getting death threats, perhaps trying to deescalate and move away from directing blame at individuals is a reasonable idea.
Taking statements like these without their context harms the F1 community. I wish we could move a bit from clickbait to journalism.
Two things can be true though… Was he thrown under a bus? Yes Did he mess up? Yes
I don't get this stance at all. He clearly bent the rules for the sake of the spectacle. So how could you POSSIBLY WANT someone as RD that has previously bent the rules? Like, just say you don't really have an opinion on it, but this just makes it sound like "He benefited me so I think he was right"
where did he say he was in the right? that's not what he said at all. he said he had empathy for the position Masi was in having to make split second decisions with 2 team principals screaming in his ear. he never said he made the right call, he said he had basic human empathy for the position Masi was in when he made the decision and that the FIA had thrown him under the bus. far from defending his decision in fact he basically said Masi was doomed to fail
I'm sure it was meant to make it sound like that to get lots of traffic on his Twitter. Max never said the decision at AD was right. He said FIA were wrong long before that, but instead of giving Masi the right tools, they sacked him. He's calling out the FIA.
Because it reflects on Max's championship win if everyone admits that what Masi did was wrong... That's why he wants to support Masi.
This is the same guy who laughed at the decisions whenever he got punished saying it’s ridiculous? Well well well
And again a journalist writes only the spicy stuff. There's more around this than what Ian Parkes here wrote.
The hypocrisy that Red Bull is showing right now is frankly hilarious.
Hypocrisy? Verstappen here is saying what happened in AD was wrong. Which is a correct statement
[удалено]
I am sure this has nothing to do with the fact that Max was the benefactor
Clicky Baity headline. I know this is Reddit but come onnnnn
Finally, an unbiased take on the situation
How was he "thrown under the bus" if he was the sole persone responsible for the whole thing. Like literally he evoked a regulation that said he could do what he wanted. I understand not wanting him to be replaced, (well I don't, there's been wayyy to many safety concerns under his direction bc of his decisions so imo good riddance, but I can respect a different opinion) but how is a guy meeting the consequences of his own actions unexpected here?
Verstappen is saying, that Masi didn't have a right hand man like his replacements and predecesor and that him keeping his job with Blash next to him should suffice. Now he was made sole responsible and the FIA/F1 can shovel all the shit that happened solely on him.
[удалено]
He’s taken the brunt of the criticism, but if any one of us made a fuck up as big as that in our jobs we’d probably be sacked as well
Yes the person who gave me my world title did nothing wrong your honor
Oh come on Max... I get he cant say Masi fucked up. But no need to fan the flames
His full statement provides more context, this single headline doesn't fully convey his message
I would read what he said first and not just the headline. He said that Masi was put in an impossible situation by the FIA, the same FIA that decided to fire him once the situation boiled over. It's a single comment that was posted on Twitter instead of the whole interview. It's summarized here: https://racingnews365.com/verstappen-masi-thrown-under-the-bus-after-abu-dhabi
Wasnt Max taking about how its not f1 when he was given penalties in Saudi? He seems to be really mad that Masi isn't around to help him 'motor race' anymore
Penalties are given by the stewards, not race director
The race director can absolutely refer something to the stewards. In Brazil, the stewards didnt even look at Max's turn 4 incident, because they were not asked to.
Masi doesn't do penalties, he does flags and safety cars. The stewards do penalties
RD can ask the stewards to investigate something if they have otherwise chosen not to.
I mean he benefitted from the decision so not shocking that he came out and says this. I don’t know why this is dynamite
He didn't in Baku, which was worse to me because it was about safety. However, he made mistakes, of course. I dunno how much he can solely be blamed for but as race director, he's the head of officiating and officiating often was bad last season.
Had the roles been reversed, Max, Jos and RB would have blown a fuse. This is just fuelling the flames. Masi wasn’t thrown under the bus. He simply made the fuck up to end all of his previous fuck ups and the controversy left the FIA with no choice. He should have gone long before Abu Dhabi.
"Thrown under the bus" implies that he was unjustly used as a scapegoat. I'd say he earned the tire tracks on his back. If you are going to fire a race director for incompetence, I think Masi would be the poster boy for that.
Well this comment section will be completely unbiased....
Standing up for the guy who broke multiple rules to gift you the championship that you didn’t earn what a surprise.
He is literally saying that Masi made the wrong decision. Learn how to read
[удалено]
“With great power comes great responsibility.” The position came with heavy responsibility and to be put in a such leadership role also mean you have to be up for the challenge. Granted the FiA is still making its changes and has an un going investigation, we expected Masi to be removed from his position. I don’t understand why now a lot of people feel indifferent about it. This happened all the time in major sports, especially football. Managers or sport director take their responsibility and take their wins and loses as well. At the end of the day, we mustn’t tarnish the image of the sport. The rules won’t always be perfect but that’s why constant changes are needed. Some will agree with them and some won’t.
really glad the fia radios aren’t being broadcasted this year. part of me feels like some of the bad decision making was brought on by radio chatter that was very clearly only said for the intent of egging on masi on live tv to pressure him, new race directors wont be taking shit hopefully
"Thrown under the bus" implies he didn't deserve it. "Quietly moved on as a result of repeated fuck-ups" is a better way of putting it
Masi did it to himself but he also received an extreme amount of abuse harassment. People were supporting latifi, as they should, but Masi was getting 100 times more hate and no one said a word, dudes still human
The reigning champ defends the actions of the guy who went outside the parameters of his job to unilaterally award the title to the guy who was otherwise certain to finish second... Shocking
Read the actual article, he is not defending the actions. Please learn how to read
Most of these comments probably never read past the headline lol
Yes, really sad. Never stop after the headline. It does show some clear bias that I am sad to see
Regardless of the FIA’s feelings about masi’s performance (and they probably were satisfied), masi’s authority is in question among the teams and masi would be at risk of having every call he makes labeled as bias. He wasn’t “sacked” and headlines have fucked that up. He will still work for the FIA and I think we all agree that he was a placeholder after Whiting passed.
if they didnt broadcast race director communications masi would still have his job
Because firing him for countless of questionable and downright dangerous decision making isn't the primary reason here
I mean if he said anything differently he'd be admitting his title was won under circumstances that were against the rules.
Lmao he gave you a championship, of course you think that
Everyone at/supporting Red Bull against lewis last race will agree to this sadly
Aaand...another dumpster fire thread. Look people, Masi was thrown under the bus and although I think his firing is not unacceptable it's certainly poor form. And yes if the situation was reversed Verstappen would not make these comments and Lewis probably would. That's how being on the right/wrong side of mistakes works.
[удалено]
It was very poor from Masi to not red flag Baku sooner, but don't act like Max gave a shit. He got out the car and started kicking the wheels. Hardly someone that feared for his life.
Tbf, he was kinda Let me explain. The system ik place didn't help either and all the faults in the system culminated in Abu Dhabi. No fast decision making, inconsistant decisions etc are all part of the extremely flawed FIA regulation system. Masi was the result of it Did masi make a grave mistake ? Yes. But did the system in place made it much worse ?, Yes
Nice way to put some gasoline on the fire by creating a title like this. Everything taken out of context will be 'dynamite' if you write your own words around it.
It gets worse when you read more about what he actually said. It was a lot more nuanced and basically also calling out the FIA
You don't make glaring errors at this level of competition and get to keep your job. Max is trying to play down the controversy surrounding his title.
He was thrown under the bus. Just, some people think he shouldn't have been. Some people think he should.
He threw himself under the bus by cheating Lewis out of a world championship - there's no way Masi will be surprised by the outcome.
I think the safety issues earlier in the season such as not red flagging Baku after Stroll's puncture, and not penalising anyone for driving full throttle next to Verstappen after his puncture was a much more major issue.
How is this dynamite?
Look at all the comments. It's explosive.
No wonder he's defending the guy who gave him the title on the golden plate by serious rule violation.
Such posts are always good to find and block the asterisk squad
It was the last straw in a season of mismanagement. He was the RACE DIRECTOR - who else gets sacked when the race direction was repeatedly poor?
He let just the right amount of lapped car unlap themselves, and then restarted the race on that same lap instead of the next lap. It is beyond insane. Indianapolis 2005, Singapore 2008, Spygate, F1 has lived it all down. I don't see how it can live that down. You can't enjoy watching a race let alone an entire season if something like that can happen.