"He was a liability for the sport" - Mercedes' Toto Wolff feels former F1 race director Michael Masi is yet to own up to his mistakes

It appears that the wounds of the Abu Dhabi GP have not healed for Mercedes as Toto Wolff has come out and made rather scathing remarks about the credentials of Michael Masi. In an interaction with the Press Association, Wolff called the former race director a "liability for the sport" and someone immune to feedback.

The Mercedes boss said:

“He [Michael Masi] was a liability for the sport because everybody kept talking about Abu Dhabi and the race director, and the race director should not be somebody that people talk about, but someone who does the job and makes sure the race is run according to the regulations. He was just immune to any feedback and even today he has not properly reflected that he did something wrong.”

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Here's what the Mercedes boss told Masi before 2021 Abu Dhabi GP

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed that even before the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, he had reached out to Michael Masi to suggest that he take criticism on board. The Austrian said:

“I had lunch with him on the Wednesday before the race. and I said to him that ‘I really want to tell you, without patronizing you, that you need to take criticism on board and develop from there. Lewis does it every day, but you are a guy who always seems to know better.’ It wasn’t about influencing him but really giving my honest feedback that he shouldn’t block outside opinion as simply being wrong.”

Wolff did not stop there as he further revealed that Michael Masi had been disrespectful to the drivers in the driver briefings. He also said that even one of the promotors for races in the Middle East was tired of his abusive behavior. The 50-year-old said:

“You hear from the drivers and how the drivers’ briefings were conducted [by Michael Masi] and some of the guys said it was almost disrespectful how he treated some of them. There is a promoter of one of the races in the Middle East who said he was so relieved he had gone because he got so much abuse from him.”

This latest set of remarks is not only shocking but also revealing of the fact that Mercedes, especially Toto Wolff, have not moved on from what happened last season. The team is hurt by what happened with Lewis Hamilton losing the title to Max Verstappen and the way it all panned out. These recent media attacks are just proof of that.