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In another bewildering statement, Christian Horner explains he is defending Michael Masi because he will “always stand up for someone who is being bullied”.
Red Bull is continuing its campaign to defend Michael Masi, after the FIA removed him from the position of Formula 1 race director due to the controversial decisions he made at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which allowed Max Verstappen to win the 2021 F1 championship.
During his appearance on BBC Breakfast, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner accused Mercedes of using “bullying” to force Masi’s removal.
“Was it right to fire him based on pressure that was placed on him from a rival team?” Horner asked.
“That for me was wrong. That’s tantamount to bullying. It’s passively aggressive.
“Yes, Michael did make mistakes and it was frustrating, but you have to look at the role that he was in and the tools that he had at his disposal.
“You can’t just place the blame on Michael. It’s unfair to do that.”
This statement from Horner is nothing short of shocking. Not only is this a serious accusation against Mercedes without a single bit of evidence, but Horner basically accused the FIA of removing Masi due to outside pressure from a single Formula 1 team, and not as a result of their independent investigation into Masi’s Abu Dhabi decisions.
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However, Horner does not stop there, he again talks about Michael Masi and his family receiving death threats.
“We were on the receiving end of many of Michael’s errors. But he is in a high-pressure role in a high-pressure sport.
“But what it is unforgivable is the trolling, the abuse online, the death threats that he and his family had. That absolutely cannot be condoned in any way.
“That has nothing to do with the sport. It’s just out-and-out bullying and I would not accept that in any way within our organisation.”
As we already wrote, it’s absolutely shocking that anybody would stoop to the level of sending death threats, and it must not be tolerated, it is also interesting that so far Horner has been the only person who revealed this information.
Nobody else from Formula 1 management, to the FIA, to Masi himself has said anything about this. We’re not saying that it didn’t happen, but it’s interesting that Horner is the only person talking about this.
He then goes on to say that the reason he is ‘standing up’ for Masi, is because he is opposed to any form of bullying.
“That’s why I spoke up for Michael because I felt that he had not had any support. He had not had any backing.
“That he’d been hung out to dry and that there was this a concerted campaign that was very passive-aggressively focused against him.
“I will always stand up for someone who is being bullied. Bullying is not acceptable,” the Briton concluded.
While Horner needs to be commended for his stand against bullying, the fact that Masi’s loudest supporter is the person who benefitted most from his Abu Dhabi decisions, might actually be doing the Australian a big disservice.
It would also be interesting to see if Horner would be so vocal, had he been on the other end of Masi’s unjust decisions.
