In the wake of the controversy involving Mercedes and Michael Masi, team principals will now not be allowed to speak to the race director on the FIA radio
Ever since Max Verstappen ended up winning the Formula 1 2021 drivers’ championship title, all hell has broken loose. It was down to the set of events which unraveled at the season finale race with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix seeing a massive brouhaha erupt as Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton in the tailend of the showdown.
Everything went haywire after Nicholas Latifi ended up crashing into the barrier with only five laps remaining. Michael Masi’s decision making left everyone scratching their heads thereafter with the FIA race director first seen refusing cars to overtake as the safety car was deployed before going onto allow five lapped cars to overtake only four minutes later.
Team Principals Won’t Allowed To Talk To FIA Race Director Michael Masi On The Team Radio In F1 2022
He was also heard shutting down Mercedes bigwig Toto Wolff on the FIA team radio during the hiatus in racing as the safety car was brought on to clear the mess up. While Mercedes have now gone onto state that they won’t be appealing in the FIA International Court of Appeal, Masi has continued to remain subject to scrutiny with ardent Hamilton fans hitting out at the Australian.
In the midst of the controversy, F1 Chief Ross Brawn has gone onto reveal that team principals will no longer be allowed to get on the FIA radio to talk to the race director in between races.
“We will stop this contact next year,” Brawn told Auto Motor und Sport.
“It’s unacceptable that team bosses put Michael under such pressure during the race. It’s like the coaches negotiating with the referee in football.
“Toto can’t demand there shouldn’t be a Safety Car and Christian can’t demand the cars have to un-lap. That’s at the discretion of the race director,” the Briton continued.
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