© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca reveals how Michael Masi has been coping with the backlash from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Michael Masi has been at the centre of the controversy surrounding the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after he broke the rules of the Safety Car, which allowed Max Verstappen to win the race and the championship.
The controversy recently culminated with Masi losing his spot as race director, but the backlash continues. Masi’s “personal friend” Eugene Arocca reveals how the Australian has been coping with the situation.
“He’s a personal friend,” Arocca told Speedcafe.com.
“I’ve known him as long as I’ve been involved in motorsport, which goes back 10 years, and we’ve become good buddies. It’s personally disappointing and devastating for me to see what has occurred.
“I can’t speak on his behalf, but I would say that one of the more difficult elements of all this, let’s call it this incident, happened late last year, some three months ago now, and to a large degree it’s been a process that hasn’t leant itself to really being in a good frame of mind.
“It’s been a tortuous two or three months of discussion, debate, criticism, public airing of view. You have to have a hide that’s pretty thick to be able to withstand all that and come out the other end feeling OK.”
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Arocca also revealed he has exchanged text messages with Masi, and he commends him for his “resilience”.
“Based on the fact that he responded this morning, and he was obviously pretty flat, he’s a man who’s got fantastic resilience.”
Arocca went on to praise Masi as a “strong leader”.
“Unlike many others, he’s actually been administering, involved in managing motorsport for many, many years.
“He’s got an extensive background and history. He’s very insightful, intelligent, and able to make decisions in the heat of a moment. That’s something that people may have lost in some of the debate.
“It’s really easy to be a critic on the sidelines thinking what he went through when he was making those decisions.
“There would be other people that would be completely paralysed in exactly the same circumstances. He made the call.
“That is the first character trait of a strong leader,” Arocca concluded.
