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Three years after the scandalous finale to the 2021 season, when GP race director Michael Massi’s erratic decisions denied Lewis Hamilton his eighth title, Mercedes F1 principal Toto Wolff has spoken out again about the matter and Massi, adding that “ Lewis deserved to be the only one with eight titles.”
We recall that in the last race of the 2021 season, in Abu Dhabi, Michael Massi made two safety car decisions in the last 5 laps that turned the tide in favor of Max Verstappen in that night’s marginal title battle with Lewis Hamilton.
Following the safety car for Williams’ Nicolas Latifi’s crash with 5 laps to go, the 58-lap race would have to be restarted after cars within a lap had overtaken the leader to go back to the bottom of the standings – that is, at the end of lap 58, with no overtaking.
Had Massi followed this protocol, under the regulations, Hamilton would have secured victory and the title as he held a respectable race lead from Verstappen until the safety car came on.
Massi, however, allowed the restart at the end of lap 57, instructing only the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to overtake the race leader. Under the safety car, Verstappen had pitted for a tire change, so he comfortably passed Hamilton for the win with just one lap to go.
In the months that followed, much was said on the subject, and even more was written. And although Massi has been removed from his position by the FIA, Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said the events of that night still weigh heavily on him and his team.
“Felt angerno depression or sadness, only angry that one person was able to remove him eighth title from the best driver in the world with a bad decision”Wolff said recently speaking on the High Performance podcast.
“But you have to let’s see from a more general point of view: there are dictators and politicians all over the world which cause so much pain, it does not compare to the loss of the eighth title for Lewis or for us as a team.
But the anger of that moment for one person… Acoma and Lewis learned to manage his emotions and after a few days he was better. We still have a sense of the injustice of that particular day.”added the Austrian.
He also revealed that earlier in the year he tried to help Massi, who was in his third season as FIA GP race director – a role he took over after the sudden death of Charlie Whiting just before the start of the 2019 season – in his work.
“I really tried to talk to Michael and guide him throughout the year. I tried to tell him, ‘Listen, I’ve been around for a long time, listen to the drivers, don’t be stubborn in your decisions.’
I tried for the good of the sport and of course for us as a team so that we are not vulnerable to situations that could be absolutely damaging. Eso in that context, what happened is inexcusable”Wolff explained.
And he concluded:Now, you might say that empathy should make me realize how he feels, I do and I know it’s not good, but he could have been thinking about it all year and there were people, not just me, who tried to support him with right way.
Sometimes you just have to accept that someone is doing their own thing or making their own decisions, so I don’t care anymore. The only thing that pI mostly think it is that Lewis deserved to be the greatest of all time with eight world championship titles”.
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