© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Mercedes dropping the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix appeal was not linked to Michael Masi being dismissed as race director.
At Mercedes’ 2022 car launch Toto Wolff denied reports that Mercedes wanted Michael Masi to be dismissed from his position as race director, in order for the team to drop their Abu Dhabi Grand Prix appeal.
“Us dropping the appeal linked to anyone leaving the FIA is not true,” the Austrian said.
“I don’t know where that comes [from]. I think that the restructuring with how decisions are being made in Formula 1, sporting decisions, has been made, and also technical decisions were necessary.
“Last year was a great season, but it created a lot of polarisation with decisions that were not always easy to understand.”
When asked if he believes the race was “fixed”, Wolff said he doesn’t think what happened was a deliberate plan.
“No, nothing was fixed. It was just the circumstances and decisions that were unprecedented. How they came about, certainly for us, was a shock.
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“Three laps to the end, we got a message that the lapped cars were not allowed to unlap themselves. And three minutes, four minutes later, suddenly there’s two messages that came out of nowhere.
“Now, obviously, we know what happened in the background, unknown to us [referring to Red Bull’s radio messages to Michael Masi].
“And then the championship was gone. Within literally half a minute of [the] decision-making process, and that is unprecedented.”
With the FIA now implementing changes to prevent what happened in Abu Dhabi from happening again, Wolff believes everybody needs to start moving away from the controversy.
“We have to move on from that. I think it’s in the past. With the measures that were announced by Mohammed [Bel Sulayem, FIA President], I think we need to put it aside.
“We are not going to forget it because that’s simply not possible. But we need to look into 2022, [and] with the steps that have been taken by the FIA, embark with encouragement into the season,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
