Toto Wolff slams Michael Masi again: “Fairness was breached… incomprehensible”

Race director Michael Masi’s incorrect application of the Safety Car rule allowed Max Verstappen to overtake Hamilton in the closing stages, and claim his first F1 championship.

Hamilton was denied an all-time record eighth title in the sport’s most notorious moment - more than a year later, the feud between Mercedes and Red Bull shows no sign of dissipating.

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“It was tough after Abu Dhabi,” Wolff said to The Times. “I have always liked the principle that the stopwatch never lies. The team that wins is the one that deserves to be the champion.

“But this was different. At the end of the race, an individual took decisions that were not reflected anywhere in the rule book and were so drastic that they made the outcome unbelievable.

“That is a moment when you fall out of love with the sport. The principle of fairness was breached.

“The FIA took the guy out of the job because it was a human error. But it’s done and dusted now. I still think about it a lot, but not with anger; it is just incomprehensible how it came about.”

Masi is no longer working for the FIA.

Verstappen won his second consecutive title, amid the F1 cost cap saga, fanning the flames of the rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull.

Hamilton, now 38, hopes to have a W14 car with improved performance to return to the heat of battle in 2023.