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Max Verstappen gives more details on the text messages he sent Michael Masi, after the FIA removed the Australian from the position of race director.
Max Verstappen recently revealed he has sent text messages to Michael Masi after the FIA announced the Australian has been removed from the position of race director.
Masi was removed because, at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he broke the rules that govern the Safety Car, which allowed Verstappen to easily win his first F1 world title.
It’s somewhat unusual that a driver who most benefitted from Masi’s decisions openly talks about sending the former race director text messages, especially in light of Lewis Hamilton’s recent comments that some drivers have personal relationships with certain race stewards.
Now, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Verstappen gave more details about the nature of his text messages.
“What happened to Michael is very unfair,” the Dutchman said.
“The FIA was pressured to make a decision. I wrote him a message about it.
“I said we didn’t always agree on everything, but that’s racing. We always wanted to make the sport as a whole better.
“Nobody is perfect, but what was always brought up was that we had to race. We needed that mentality and he had it.
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“For Michael to step in after Charlie [Whiting, former F1 race director] was a difficult task.
“Everyone needs help. I have the whole team around me. Maybe Michael needed more people around him, but he never got the chance. They really put him in the ground.”
Verstappen saying that Masi was removed due to the FIA being “pressured” seems to indicate that he doesn’t believe the governing organization is making unbiased decisions based on a fair investigation.
The Dutchman then revealed how Masi reacted to his messages.
“He appreciated my message. He got a few more. It was very fresh for him.
“I’ve had my moments with the stewards, but in the end you have to respect each other. You don’t always have to agree.
“The goal is to make racing better, more exciting but also fairer,” he concluded.
Although Verstappen says he wants racing to be “fairer”, it’s hard to defend Masi’s Abu Dhabi decisions as fair, considering the FIA decided to remove him from the position of race director because of them.
