Michael Masi gets fired/replaced?

I’m getting pretty tired of saying the same thing, in the rules the race director is allowed to make directives as well! Prior to the race Masi said he would take points away from a driver involved in sec fight if necessary. How is that fair?!

again, teams agreed to finish under green if possible. Masi made that happen.

 

Lol…the Brit’s did the same after World Cup this year sore losers

 

I wish I didn’t see that. I hold brundle to a very high regard…sad this!

 

From joining Wednesday to Ignore in less than a week. Congratulations!

 

Did you see this part?

Brundle's comments about a shared title come in the wake of two-time champion Fernando Alonso suggesting that there is an argument for this season's trophy to be 'split' in two.

"It is going to be a big topic I guess, but if you take the 22 races, as I said on Thursday any of the two could be a world champion," he said.

"I think more than any other year if you could split the trophy in two, this was the year to do it. Because both of them were outstanding."

I don't think they are pushing for a split title, they're just saying both guys were deserving. Brundle did highlight all of Max's seasonal stats (like double laps led vs Lewis) so I don't think he's pushing anything more than calling out the way things ended. "The final few laps in Abu Dhabi, when the world's eyes were on us in staggering numbers, were not our finest moment and some things have to change this winter. We certainly confused our fans on Sunday." (Interesting use of "our" and "we"...how closely is SkySports tied into F1/Liberty Media????)

 

I remain of the opinion that the FIA has made so many decisions and forced changes against max/red bull that Lewis was only still in contention because of them. Lewis made plenty of mistakes this year, especially in the first half he was very sloppy. Max made one big mistake (jeddah).

So no, I don't buy into it that they should "share" a title if that was possible. Masi was an idiot all season and on the last lap, but for once it finally gave max a chance. He still had to overtake and defend against Lewis. It's not like they told Lewis to pull over.

Cars and select cars have been allowed to unlap themselves for years. Sure as hell didn't hear Mercedes/Lewis fans complain when Lewis crashed out in imola, was almost 2 laps behind and could unlap himself in the red flag.

Max was nearly faultless all season, and had to battle a faster car from Silverstone onwards, with a 7x wdc in it. I think he deserves his title and certainly doesn't deserve the asterisk notion.

 

Lost in the HAM vs. VER frenzy is the fact that Masi's ad hoc move with the Safety Car created the highly unusual situation where lapped traffic was cleared between P1 and P2 but not between P2 and P3 (Sainz) who, on older, Hard tires, was trying to hold-off TSU, GAS, and BOT - all with newer Medium tires - for the last podium position.
Said Sainz: "At the beginning, I was told they would not be allowed to un-lap themselves, the group in front of me, then it was decided to un-lap themselves and some people un-lapped themselves but there was still, I think, an Aston Martin and a McLaren, Ricciardo, between the two leaders and myself. I’ve never had it before, having to restart the race with these two guys in front of me while fighting for a P3. I believe it was a strange one and something to look at because it was just very strange to see and it nearly cost me a podium, to be honest."
Say what you want, but I'm going with the opinion of the driver affected by the incident with no vested interest in the outcome that occurred ahead of him.
Listening to Carlos Sainz, Masi's handling of the lapped cars seems indefensible: how can you advantage P2 and discriminate against P3? It seems that all Masi and the FIA cared about was manufacturing a last lap "showdown" between HAM and VER; never mind rules, precedent, and the other participants. Optics matter.
Particularly troubling was the Stewards use of Article 15.3 to justify Masi's conjuring of the unique Safety Car procedure seen on the second to last lap. While 15.3 does give the Race Director broad authority to control most elements of the race - including the Safety Car - nowhere do I see where 15.3 gives the Race Director authority to edit the fifteen paragraphs of Article 39 of the Sporting Regulations (Safety Car) and create new procedures out of thin air. The fact that Masi made one decision, communicated that decision to the teams, changed his mind and communicated that decision to the teams, then created a never-before-seen protocol for the Safety Car would seem to indicate that more was going on than just "making a quick decision under immense pressure". Anyone who's watched more than five minutes of F1 knew HAM was toast the second Masi released the lapped cars between HAM and VER, so knowledgeable fans got the abomination Masi characterized as "motor racing" while those new to racing/F1 got the reality TV show called "Showdown at Yas Marina".
Should play great on "Drive to Survive"; I won't be watching.

 

Maybe he’ll graduate to a ban.....

 

i was more shocked/commenting that Alonso said anything supporting Hamilton than advocating for a split title. It’s the “nobody loses” solution…will be more gas on the fire than anything.

F1/FIA/Masi created a sihtstorm that didn’t need to happen and they’re scrambling now. The criticism is getting worse the further we get from the event. Max certainly drove brilliantly all season and is a deserving champ. FIA just screwed everything up with a final idiotic decision in a season full of them.

And Max doesn’t deserve that shadow…

 

In this thread there is too much ‘Max is better’ vs ‘Ham is better’ fanboy garbage. It’s got nothing to do with who is better. This is about Masi - and I think there can only be one conclusion with regards to him. He, is the definition of garbage. I can’t believe he hasn’t been publicly fired yet. Makes the FIA and F1 look like a bunch of utter jokers and clowns. Some might say he’s therefore perfect for the job…

 

I think it’s mostly about the incompetence of Masi and how he made a mess of the finale…and he didn’t need to. The groundswell of negativity against F1 in its big moment will be felt by Liberty…Masi will ultimately be accountable for his decisions.

 

This is EXACTLY it. What people are calling manipulation was simply taking the sport out of the influence of Mercedes and freeing it. Unfortunately Mercedes influence has been so heavy that doing so is felt by all and especially in this instance with Latifi’s crash being so late in the race and at a terrible position on track. F1 knew very well that the uninspired underwhelming anticlimactic ending of the season under a SC would be absolutely terrible, so as they stated prior they made the race end under green flag. They did everything within the rules. Masi is taking heat for helping the sport rather than helping Mercedes. That is not right. He did very well for the race and for the sport.

Listen to the radio between Elton and the team. They tell him VERY clearly that they weren’t going to give up track position to pit. It was their call and they made it.

 

Long term this championship will always be remember as being fixed by the FIA, short term, real f1 fans will say it was a fix, most common theme going is that it was a fix, ill always remember it as a fix. MV fans will say it was well earned

“Race director Michael Masi and the stewards’ interpretation of the FIA’s 2021 Sporting Regulations has been called into question by racing drivers, pundits and legal commentators alike,” he told RaceFans.

“In response to Mercedes’ protest, they concluded that article 15.3 gives the race director carte blanche to control the use of the safety car and overrides the procedure for the safety car stipulated at Article 48.12.

“This interpretation seems – on its face – to be inconsistent with a plain language view of the regulations. It also directly contradicts Michael Masi’s approach in similar circumstances at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix where he stated ‘There is a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past’ [emphasis added] before the safety car returns to the pit lane and the race recommences ‘therefore the safety car period was a bit longer than what we would have normally wanted’ – i.e. the race director cannot overrule the appropriate application of the regulations, including the full application of article 48.12.”

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This could be considered a breach of the International Sporting Code, said Bamber. “Article 1.1.1 of the 2021 FIA International Sporting Code makes clear that the regulations are to be enforced ‘based on the fundamental principles of safety and sporting fairness’ [emphasis added]. Part of sporting fairness revolves around consistency of application of the rules of the sport. As such, there appears to be a good legal basis upon which Mercedes could seek to appeal.”

Were the matter to go to an International Court of Appeal hearing, Bamber believes this apparent inconsistency could prove challenging to justify.

“In addition to repeating the reasoning set out in the stewards’ decision, the FIA would likely argue that any ambiguity in the regulations should be resolved in favour of Masi’s decision-making made in real-time, under the pressure of ensuring the race was completed safely and competitively – relying upon the sports law doctrine of respective ‘field of play’ decisions,” he said.

“Again, given the inconsistency in the application of the decision-making during the race itself, and against the same circumstances in prior races, this seems an unconvincing argument.”

They fudged the rules to suit an unlawfull world championship which will not hold up in the ICA no matter how much you want MV to remain champion....... Masi broke the regualtions and even wrote new ones, he is not the god of F1 and as it says in article 1.1.1 of the international sporting code ( Which is the rules for ALL FIA races and championships down to Karting and so on and so n and so on ) he must do actions that uphold sporting fairness and safety, he didnt so its invalid as you cant change the rules to a compition that is in active running, it wont hold up in the ICA it wont hold up in CAS either and nor will it hold up in Federal suprem court either which is the only court in the world that can over rule the CAS.

 

The procedure was not correct - Period.
If the correct procedure was followed, Lewis would just have to accept it as rotten racing luck...but that's not what happened.
Masi wanted the big one lap blowup for the show, and the threw the rule book out to get it.
It isn't even defensible at this point (without the last, pathetic refuge of whataboutism )

Best thing to do at this point would be to invalide the Abu Dhabi, thereby giving little Max his "Championship" along with a nice pat on the head - at least that way FIA/Liberty would have account for the farce, and be forced to work at restoring some sporting integrity in the coming seasons.

Incidentally it gives me such great JOY as a Lewis man, that he has emerged as moral champion, and that his haters/detractors can never fully enjoy that unqualified defeat that were so hoping for. This will rumble on forever and ever, and rightfully so. Huzzah!

 

I don't think that's it. Can you identify a precedent for the way the ending was handled? Are the other drivers who have spoken out part of this evil Merc v virtuous Messy battle?

 

I love that idea. Cancel but max still wins. I think it’s fair and I’m not kidding. He deserved a clean title by his talent not to have ppl mention it with an Astérix, he was the best in my eyes this year even though i was rooting for Lewis


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Good, any one who thinks sporting integrity does not matter in a sporting competion is not a real f1 fan but a netflix fan, so isnt worthy of having a discusion with.

if it has no sporting integrity it isnt a sport, if masi can alter the rules when he likes to do what ever he please then it isnt a championship worth competing for let alone watch, untill the final race a show would be pointless other than highlights that would be just the start and any restarts when normal service resumes next season and we have a clear best car on the grid with brand new regulations, some one is going to do a much better job than the others, its the way it has always been in f1, if its not a sport and just for entertainment, how do you know if Masi hasnt already told every one whos allowed to race and who isnt? how does any thing on track mean any thing ? its just a show right? Its not sport.. no point watching any thing cause its scricpted.. tune in for the last race expecting what you just saw to find Russle ran off and had it won 7 races earlier beating LH ( We can hope )... thats what the type of fan it will appeal to once its sporting integrity is gone..... if its not FAIR FOR ALL its not fair at all and isnt a sport, you cant selectively apply regualtions, it has to be done for all..

if the ICA keep this result then it will do more damage to the FIA than it would by enforcing its regulations ( Even technical ones to dq merc from qually for broken bolts on its wing ) to apply the rules and have the race finish under the safety car as it would have done and rightfully give LH the title which he had earned during the whole season right up to the last race where he left MV in his shadow all race........

 

Where Masi screwed up was he announced something therefore setting expectations and then changed it. Both things were legal and in fact what they did was better for the spectacle of the sport, ending under racing conditions. What isn’t good for the sport is having Merc win for the rest of eternity. That will kill F1. So, just as the Scuderia Ferrari juggernaut came to its end, so has this one. They had to invent a new tire, change the rules against Ferrari, break up management, and sideline one of the greatest drivers in history to reset the sport ending Ferrari’s dominance. In retrospect Ferrari because the are devoted to the good of the sport went with it for the greater good. I didn’t like it then or now. Who wants to swallow the bitter pill? Merc’s dominance is now ended. You may not like it, any Elton fan wouldn’t like this change in the air regarding their fav. However it’s good for the sport. It’s good for racing. F1 needed a change and a shakeup and that’s what we got.

 

If anyone should be complaining about being unfair, it's Carlos Sainz. I wouldn't say he was robbed, that's for sure. Hell maybe having a draft down the straight protected his 3rd place, who knows. But he should have been right behind Max on the restart. P1 and P2 were in the correct positions.

 

How is Merc dominance ended? Didn’t they win the constructor championship ? Didn’t they have the best car year end ? And how do you know what they have in store next year?
Seems premature


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It’s over Johnny, OVER. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Factually you are simply wrong as they just won the constructor championship Johnny


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Just make every driver co champion so they can all win as one.
Do you guys think Masi had time to think hmm. Max has new tires and Lewis will lose on restart. Seriously?
Manipulated is because everyone is believing just that. All the bs is cause Lewis lost. When a safety car comes out you lose your gap to the following driver.

 

,
"NOTHING IS OVER!!!!! NOTHING!!

 

They always are the class of the field.
With the « smarter » engineers working for them.
More important in the end: their political power is their best asset as proven by the way Toto talked to Masi during the GP..