© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
In a new interview with The Times, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says the finish of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is “a moment when you fall out of love with the sport”.
At the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race director Michael Masi disregarded the rules that govern the use of the Safety Car, which basically gave Max Verstappen the race win and the 2021 title on a silver platter.
At the same time, Masi’s controversial and unjust decisions prevented Lewis Hamilton from winning his record-breaking eighth F1 championship.
These events prompted many fans, observers, and representatives of the media to question the legitimacy of the result, and Formula 1 overall.
In the aftermath of the controversy, the FIA launched an investigation into what had happened, removed Masi from the role of race director, and ultimately came out with a report.
However, many still felt that the report, while acknowledging that Masi made “a human error”, was not enough.
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In a new interview with The Times, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says what happened in Abu Dhabi is “just incomprehensible”.
“At the end of the race, an individual took decisions that were not reflected anywhere in the rule book and were so drastic that they made the outcome unbelievable,” Wolff said.
“That is a moment when you fall out of love with the sport… The principle of fairness was breached.
“The FIA took the guy out of the job because it was a human error… But it’s done and dusted now. I still think about it a lot, but not with anger.
“It is just incomprehensible how it came about,” the Austrian concluded.
