"He’s really been thrown under the bus" - Max Verstappen calls Michael Masi's sacking ‘unacceptable'

Max Verstappen believes former F1 race director Michael Masi being dismissed from his job is unfair. The reigning champion empathized with the Australian and claimed the pressure applied to dismiss him was unacceptable.

Suggesting Masi’s removal was unjust, the Dutch champion spoke at the driver’s conference and said:

“I think it’s not correct. Everyone always tries to do the best job and everyone can always use help. 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.”

The Dutchman believes the Australian was pressured into taking a call in Abu Dhabi and judged unfairly as a result of it. The scrutiny over his decisions despite being lobbied and pressured while carrying out his duties made his job difficult, according to the Red Bull champion.

Stating why he felt Masi’s removal was unfair, Max Verstappen said:

“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.”

Exemplifying that referees in other sports do not have coaches or team managers lobbying them, the Red Bull driver believes the allowance of radio communication between the race directors and the teams itself was incorrect. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who was responsible for most of its usage, also agreed with this view.

Assessing the situation that unfolded when Masi was the race director, Max Verstappen said:

“So I think in the first place, that F1 already allowed team members to talk to him while making decisions is very wrong, because it needed to be Michael making the decisions on his own without having people screaming in his ear. The people who did sack him – that in the first place for me is unacceptable.”

Taking a jibe at those who pressured the Australian’s dismissal, Verstappen termed the move 'unacceptable'. Further, he suggested that the race director was judged and scrutinized harshly, instead of being provided with a support system to aid his job.

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Max Verstappen saddened by Michael Masi’s sacking; contacted race director upon hearing the news

The Dutch world champion revealed he was saddened by the news of Michael Masi’s removal and texted the former race director when he heard about it. The reigning champion believes the Australian was in a difficult spot after he replaced the late Charlie Whiting, who was more experienced.

Empathizing with the former race director, Max Verstappen said:

“So I feel really sorry for Michael because I think he was a very capable and good race director and I have nothing against the new race directors because I think they’re also very capable and very good race directors. But personally, for Michael, I felt really sad and I sent him a text. [It’s] not the right decision. I do think if he would have maybe put someone next to him after Charlie died – it’s very hard to take over from someone like him, you know, he had so much experience from previous years.”

The 2021 world champion’s opinion is similar to other drivers, such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso, who have identified with Masi. With a polarized F1 community on social media, his opinion, however, is likely to get a vitriolic reaction. His boss Christian Horner, who empathized with Masi, was also criticized by his rival Lewis Hamilton's fans.