Formula FIA Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has revealed he received death threats in the months which followed his controversial decision which swung the outcome of last year’s world championship in Abu Dhabi.
The FIA confirmed earlier this month Masi had left the organisation. He was replaced as race director after it found he made an “error” in his decision to arrange a final-lap restart of the race at Yas Marina.Masi’s decision to only allow a portion of the drivers to un-lap themselves contravened the FIA’s rules and handed Max Verstappen an unexpected opportunity to pass Lewis Hamilton to win the race and clinch the world championship. In an interview for Australia’s Daily Telegraph, which states Masi has signed a non-disclosure agreement with the FIA which prevents him from discussing the decision, he described the abuse he received in the wake of the controversy.
He said he received “hundreds” of messages on social media immediately after the race, and many more in the months which followed, some of which included death threats and racist abuse.
“Thankfully, I don‘t have an Instagram account or Twitter,” said Masi. “I don’t have any of that.
“Being old-school I do however have Facebook, which I used to stay in touch with family and friends. I opened my messages that night to check in with them. I had no idea that I could receive them from people I did not know. But I was wrong. I was confronted with hundreds of messages. I wouldn’t say thousands but certainly hundreds.
“And they were shocking. Racist, abusive, vile, they called me every name under the sun. And there were death threats. People saying, they were going to come after me and my family.
“And they kept on coming. Not just on my Facebook but also on my LinkedIn, which is supposed to be a professional platform for business. It was the same type of abuse.”
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Masi said he “thought I would ignore it and get on with it because I knew it could take me to a very dark place” at first. “I tried to cut myself off mentally, and I thought I could.”
The barrage of abuse made Masi fear for his personal safety. “Walking down the street in London a day or two later I thought I was okay until I started looking over my shoulder. I was looking at people wondering if they were going to get me.”
He described the physical and mental effect the abuse had on him. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone, not even family and friends,” said Masi. “I only talked to my close family – but very briefly.
“I also lost my appetite. I have heard some people become binge eaters during times like this but I didn’t eat much. It did have a physical impact, but it was more mental.”
Although he “didn‘t go and talk to a professional” about what he was going through, Masi said “with the benefit of hindsight, I probably should have. I should have gone and spoken to someone in a professional sense.
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Having returned to his native Australia following his departure from the FIA, Masi is now considering his next career move.
“The whole experience has made me a much stronger person,” he said. “I have a number of exciting options going forward. I am considering a number of different projects, both domestic and globally. My intention is to base myself out of Australia and to use all the skills I have gained in what has been an incredible journey so far and one I am extremely proud and thankful for.”
Yesterday F1 launched a new campaign, “Drive it Out”, intended to tackle abusive behaviour and messages online and at races.
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Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
31st July 2022, 8:51
#DriveItOut Oh, wait… Latifi and Masi are white males, who cares they received death threats (from those pesky Dutch Verstappen fans, I’m sure!)! Only females and “minorities” matter!
bosyber (@bosyber)
31st July 2022, 8:58
Or alternatively it is being reported because it is seen as a relevant story.
falken (@falken)
31st July 2022, 9:02
He certainly did Drive It Out. Right out of his own job…
Sandra D
31st July 2022, 9:06
Somebody greased his palms for the result. Imagine all the punters that made millions.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
31st July 2022, 10:18
That theory, which I don’t believe anyone has ever offered any evidence to back up, was quashed in the FIA report.
Chaitanya
31st July 2022, 11:54
Kangaroo courts and sham of investigation like we saw 1997, post Singapore GP 08, etc… FIA doing everything to save its skin.
Ploss (@f1-ploss)
31st July 2022, 12:16
The FIA investigating itself, sounds totally legit to me….
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st July 2022, 21:42
@keithcollantine The same one that made a number of blatantly false claims (including that the result could not be changed, when by the FIA’s own regulations it had to be)? At this point, offering the FIA report as evidence for anything regarding Abu Dhabi 2021 is not going to help any point to be made. (Although I also doubt any money changed hands, that is based on other evidence and cannot credibly use the report to support that doubt).
André
31st July 2022, 13:04
I think people try to overcomplicate the story. Masi made a mistake under pressure, in the heat of the moment, that’s all. A big mistake, for sure, which contradicted the rules and his own history of SC decisions. But in the end it was just a mistake. He tried to “go racing” under pressure from Redbull, and in doing that while bypassing the SC procedure, he took away from Hamilton the chance to have Mercedes’ strategy paying off by keeping position by finishing under the SC. So Max “won”. It’s definitely a stain in the history of the sport, but nothing justifies the death threats that he and Latifi received. That’s not compatible with a civil and peaceful society.
NoName (@noname)
1st August 2022, 8:29
@André Masi didn’t made a mistake, he cheated. He knew what he was doing and he knew the rules, he could easily pull a red flag but he knew that Lewis would have had fresh tyres as well and he was faster than Max the whole race. They simply wanted Max as “champ” no matter what, hence we heard nothing from Perez’s DNF who was underfueled of course.
Yaru (@yaru)
31st July 2022, 14:03
Masi isn’t corrupt, he is just an idiot who didn’t follow the rules he himself explained to the media in French GP 2020.
ajpennypacker (@ajpennypacker)
31st July 2022, 15:47
Laughable, slanderous, and as Keith said, absolutely disproven. You’re probably the kind of bloke that believes the moon landing was faked haha
Marcel
31st July 2022, 9:08
I wonder how much of the Toto whining at Abu Dhabi contributed to this behaviour? These ‘fans’ haven’t got much brain capacity, so must be very easy to influence. Good thing they allready stopped the radio messages from the teams to the FIA being broadcast. This definitely adds fuel to a fire.
I also wonder if DTS and the (incorrect) portraing of some drivers and/or rivalries contribute to this?
F1 is a sport, trying maybe a bit to hard to be a show. Maybe time to let it just be a sport again? Maybe better for the health of a lot of people around the sport?
tielemst
31st July 2022, 10:50
None, as far as I’m concerned. You can whine and stir the pot as much as you like, there is not a single excuse to sit at your desk and type death threats to anyone.
Ploss (@f1-ploss)
31st July 2022, 12:24
I wouldn’t be surprised if 99% of those threats were made by people who didn’t even know there was a race on and just jumped in on the feeding frenzy cause they are the saddest most vile people who now have a way to anonymously get there kicks. Sort of people who live in there Mums basement in there underpants eating cheese out the packet.
André
31st July 2022, 13:10
This has nothing to do with Toto. In fact he was right to feel aggrieved, because a title was taken away from Hamilton unfairly. The rules were not properly followed, by the man who should have executed it by the book. That was not a racing incident which is part of the sport, but a direct, black on white, contravening of the SC procedure. That’s not equivalent to a tyre blowout.
Yaru (@yaru)
31st July 2022, 14:04
Firing Masi for his incomeptence last season was the first step in trying to be more of a sport and less of a show. So they are in the right path at least.
jff
31st July 2022, 9:36
This is a misrepresentation of the facts.
I’m disappointed you keep doing this on this site.
The incorrect application only disadvantages Sainz (read the report) as he still had lapped cars in front of him. It did not (directly) impact the fight between Hamilton and Verstappen.
And I’m not repeating this because I’m supporting Verstappen (I actually think that Hamilton should have won that race). I’m just disappointed that this site keeps on repeating the wrong storyline.
Not sure if you do it because you’re British and supporting Hamilton, or if it’s to constantly stir up the readers and get a repeat of the toxic comments.
Both are wrong IMO.
Schummel Schumi (@schummelschumi)
31st July 2022, 10:17
Thank you!
N
31st July 2022, 10:38
The paragraph says the incorrect application of the rules allowed verstappen an unexpected opportunity to pass hamilton, which is entirely correct, had the rules been applied correctly, and all cars unlap themselves, the safety car would have had to do another lap an thus race end under the safety car. Thus no unexpected opportunity for verstappen to make a pass.
How is this disucssion even still a thing.
jff
31st July 2022, 10:48
You don’t know, I don’t know, the writer of this article doesn’t know, even my aunt with balls doesn’t know.
AndyPandy
31st July 2022, 11:11
Stop being flippant this is entirely correct, there was not enough time to allow all the cars to unlap before starting the final lap which would then have ended the race. The decision was taken explicitly to allow Verstappen a chance to overtake outside of the scope of the rules on safety car restarts. It was well established logistically at the time and spinning falsehoods about it only makes you appear deeply uninformed and arrogant.
jff
31st July 2022, 18:29
I know you and others want to believe that, but it is totally ignoring the obvious facts.
5 cars unlapped themselves between turn 8 & 9 (which took 11s), the 3 remaining cars could easily have unlapped themselves between turn 9 and 10, or even up to turn 11 or 12. The SC period lasted another 50s between the last unlapping and before racing started again.
The circuit has 16 turns, thus more than enough time for the SC to be called in after that (I’ve mentioned before this race that they should always do it like this rather than unnecessarily prolong it).
Gaspar Palagyi (@palagyi)
31st July 2022, 11:17
The race stewards thought otherwise, tough. As I have already stated time and again, Article 48.13 of the rules overrides the safety car having to do another lap, as the stewards confirmed after the race. Letting Ric, Stroll and Mick also unalp themselves wouldn’t have magically forced the race director to finish under safety car conditions.
So yeah. How is this discussion even still a thing.
N
31st July 2022, 12:19
“The FIA has admitted that Michael Masi contravened rules in last year’s controversial F1 finale”
How is this discussion still a thing.
Gaspar Palagyi (@palagyi)
31st July 2022, 13:47
“The FIA has admitted that Michael Masi contravened rules in last year’s controversial F1 finale”
Yes, in the sense that jff has already elaborated. Not in the sense you still want to believe in.
AndyPandy
31st July 2022, 11:06
It is not a misinterpretation in context, while you’re correct that it only hurt Sainz in theory, in reality there was no time to unlap everybody and finish the race under a green flag(Masi’s stated intention, which nobody has an issue with), so the only intended result of the incorrect application was to allow *only Max* a chance to overtake without having to go through lapped cars. Incidentally this is exactly what Red Bull had asked Masi to do on radio. If any correct and fair rules interpretation had been followed Lewis would have likely won. Red Bull and Masi must have known that. There’s simply no way it wasn’t blatant thievery of a race and championship.
Robert (@rob8k)
31st July 2022, 11:35
I mean, I get the point you are trying to get across but the fact Sainz had lapped cars between himself and Verstappen did affect the fight between Verstappen and Hamilton. Regardless of driver talent and car differences, the fact Verstappen didn’t have a car behind that could directly challenge him on restart after the SC means that he could solely focus on attack which some would class as an advantage.
I wish everyone could really just move on from it as recent events have shown that people are just creating such a negative atmosphere that shouldn’t be accepted.
jff
31st July 2022, 11:44
I fully agree with you, and also with the moving on.
Therefore, I find it so disappointing that Keith always includes that one (misleading) line whenever he mentions Masi.
Gaspar Palagyi (@palagyi)
31st July 2022, 13:51
In the spirit of fairness, you are absolutely right. But in reality, nobody can actually kid themselves that Sainz had any chance in a slower Ferrari on 18 laps-old mediums against the faster Red Bull on brand new softs. Sainz couldn’t even find his way past Ricciardo in the last lap, because of the stage of his tyres.
But I also absolutely agree with the moving on part.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st July 2022, 21:51
@palagyi It only needed to be for 4 corners. It was entirely plausible.
Gaspar Palagyi (@palagyi)
1st August 2022, 16:43
Well, Sainz tried, but it didn’t happen for 16 corners even against the weaker of Mclarens. So that’s that.
Yaru (@yaru)
31st July 2022, 14:10
Wrong. If Masi allowed all the cars to unlap like he was supposed to, the race would have finished before Max could have an opportunity to attack Hamilton. That is why Keith is right to call it an “unexpected opportunity”, because there wouldn’t have been time for that to happen.
If they were more laps remaining, you would have been correct, as there would be time to unlap all the cars and then resume the race under green. As it was Masi’s screwup gave Max that chance.
jff
31st July 2022, 18:33
There was more than enough time, see comment above.
Just check the final SC lap for yourself.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st July 2022, 21:48
jff, your claim is false, quite a few people were disadvantaged by the move (depending on which of the two legal options had been applied, some different people would have been disadvantaged, but Sainz wasn’t the only one who lost out on either legitimate version). Simply because you don’t care about the entire field doesn’t mean pretending they don’t exist is valid.
If you are seriously claiming that FIA misconduct does not matter and everyone should pretend Verstappen is champion, then you are claiming nobody should watch F1 at all. Becuase you’re claiming the FIA should just state who they want to be champion at the beginning and then nobody would need to race. It’s the very disrespect you are claiming those who believe that Abu Dhabi 2021 needed (and still needs) to be resolved within the regulations are displaying.
jff
1st August 2022, 9:00
I understand that you don’t like the outcome, but that doesn’t make my claim false.
Yes, of course the lead lap drivers behind Sainz were disadvantaged as well, but the continuous misrepresentation is that Hamilton was disadvantaged (or Verstappen advantaged), which is pertinently not true according to the Stewards and the formal report.
I don’t like the race proceeding/outcome either (never been a fan of SCs), and to me Hamilton should’ve won that race. But there is nothing wrong in my claim (read it again).
This site, should stop stirring the pot with incorrect representations of the facts.
And whenever I see this ‘stirring’ again, I’ll speak up.
This site can be (and has been) better than that.
Kribana (@krichelle)
31st July 2022, 9:50
Great… that’s one evidence down. We may never know the truth.
Kribana (@krichelle)
31st July 2022, 9:52
I still believe the FIA and Liberty told Mercedes and Red Bull to deliberately make the championship go down to the last race when either of them could have won it earlier.
Ajaxn
31st July 2022, 10:10
What?
Do you mean like in Baku when ‘Hamilton’s ‘magic’ button saved Verstappen’ effectly give up on a championship defining 25 points?
Nah, there’s no one anyone would concieve a plan to control the narative of the season, with only the promise of a close run victory. Its not like this is Hollywood.
G
31st July 2022, 10:41
Saved Verstappen?
Max had a tyre blow out and lost a ‘championship defining’ 25 points, a situation completely unfortunate and out of his hands. Lewis on the other hand produced an unforced human error under pressure.
Fred Fedurch
31st July 2022, 12:43
I’m surprised your post has been up for a couple of hours and none of the Hamfosi on here have pulled anything out of their “I have an excuse for that” folder and posted a retort in response to your unforced human error under pressure comment.
G
31st July 2022, 18:06
8 hours and counting. Still nothing….
Jere (@jerejj)
31st July 2022, 10:18
@krichelle LOL. Of course, entirely unfounded theory.
Bob C.
31st July 2022, 9:55
There is no excuse for this, and no one should ever be subjected to things of this nature.
That’s all.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
31st July 2022, 10:01
This is where the problems lie. Why on earth do these social media sites allow people to send messages to those who are not their ‘friends’ (or whatever the word is on social media)?
Some people are just awful and there is nothing that any Drive It Out campaign can do about that, but this is not a new occurrence in Formula 1; in 1994, Damon Hill received an anonymous phone call at Hockenheim telling him he would be shot if he beat Schumacher in the race. But that was just one case because it was more difficult to send a message to Damon Hill in those days. The big problem is that social media allows horrible people to actually express their opinions directly to those involved like Masi so easily and he can receive hundreds of death threats in just one night (thank goodness he doesn’t have Twitter or Instagram otherwise it would have been hundreds of thousands).
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
31st July 2022, 10:28
@f1frog
Thanks for the story, never heard of it before.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
31st July 2022, 13:02
@f1frog @tifoso1989 And from memory I think the threat was taken seriously enough at the time that the local police offered Damon extra police protection over that weekend.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
31st July 2022, 13:26
@stefmeister
Thanks for the additional info !
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st July 2022, 21:53
@f1frog Because some people want to use it that way. Indeed, that was the original point of Facebook – so that college students could find each other again even if they weren’t personal friends.
Of course, social media should make it clear what option they have switched on and how to change them, and in the 2020s there is no excuse for Facebook continuing to be opaque about this.
Trevor
31st July 2022, 10:11
F1 journalists still dont understand what happened in Abu Dhabi.
1. Masi allowed only 3 cars to unlap themselves (between Hamilton and Verstappen), but not the onces in front of Sainz.
AND
2. Masi allowed to Safety car to enter the pit 1 lap early (even though the Safety car should have come in “the following lap AFTER the lapped cars unlapped themselves).
thus handing Verstappen the opportunity on a silver platter to pass Hamilton in the last lap.
lucifer (@lucifer)
31st July 2022, 10:40
thank you
jff
31st July 2022, 10:55
2) is fully according to the rules. It’s mentioned over and over again, and was explained in the FIA report to be legitimate.
You can easily find it yourself in the rules and in the (summary of the) FIA. report.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st July 2022, 22:04
2) is against the regulations as they stood at the time of Abu Dhabi 2021. Article 48.12 is extremely clear about that, no matter how many times the FIA erroneously claims otherwise.
Short version for anyone who doesn’t feel like going to the FIA’s regulatory archive: the FIA had 2 options:
1) Permit lapped cars to overtake. “Any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap,” has only one possible interpretation – a command will be issued to any car that is lapped, who then must unlap themselves. This would have guaranteed a Lewis win because there would have been no green-flag running. This did not happen.
2) Prohibit lapped cars from overtaking. “OVERTAKING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED” has to be shown in this case, and zero cars may overtake. In the case of Abu Dhabi 2021, this would have resulted in a quick restart situation, with the result depending on whether Red Bull had elected to pit instead of arguing, and then whether Max could get through the cars between him and Lewis (in contrast to situation 1), that was potentially feasible). This also did not happen.
(Also, either breach cited by Trevor casts the whole approach, and thus the whole result, into doubt).
jff
1st August 2022, 9:10
You undermine your incorrect belief by this statement: “no matter how many times the FIA erroneously claims otherwise”. FIA is the rule writer, and much better than you at assessing those rules.
You make two major mistakes here:
a) The rules explicitly allow the Race Director to call in the SC when he deems it safe to do so (even if this is earlier than ‘after the next lap’)
b) you assume that had all cars be allowed to unlap that the SC would make another tour. This is nothing more than your belief and not based on data or facts as I showed in the post above.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
31st July 2022, 10:56
3. At the urging of the teams, including Red Bull and Mercedes, an agreement was made and documented in the pre-event directors note that it was very much preferable to finish the race under green flag conditions.
Fred Fedurch
31st July 2022, 12:49
^—– This.
ALL the teams had lobbied for a green flag finish if possible for at least a year prior to Abu Dhabi. All Masi did was find a way within the rules to grant them their wish.
Emma
31st July 2022, 13:40
Are you sure about this?
Yaru (@yaru)
31st July 2022, 14:12
Except it wasn’t within the rules at all.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st July 2022, 22:04
@sjaakfoo The “Lapped cars will not overtake” option that was available under the regulations to the director would have provided more green running than the route that was actually taken.
Ajaxn
31st July 2022, 10:17
The people i feel sorry for are all those high rollers who must have placed big money on Hamilton winning, either at the start of the season, or based on the finally spell of victories running up to that final race.
Then you get Horner’s plea to the Racing Gods, Latifi to crash with 5 laps to go, and to top it all, Masi scuppers a certain historic victory but reinterpretting the known rules of F1.
Masi pouring salt on with his infamous – “Its called motor racing”