Since when Formula One existed, the 2021 season must have been the most controversial one. That year the world record of Michael Schumacher was about to get broken. Something expected but too grand was about to happen as Lewis Hamilton, a friend of Sebastian Vettel, was just about to win his eighth world championship. No one would have stopped him but the unfair decision of FIA. At the very last moment, the commentators announced that it was not Hamilton but Max Verstappen who won the 2021 F1 world championship.
No one was really happy with the results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, except team Red Bull and its fans. It necessarily does not mean that Max Verstappen did not deserve to win, he definitely was worth winning. But just the way he won his maiden championship was too inappropriate. Half of the Formula One fan still believe that Hamilton is the owner of 8 crowns, once Charles Leclerc, too, had a tongue slip in calling Hamilton an eight-time world champion.
Sebastian Vettel Said He Misses Michael Masi In F1 (The Man, Who Created The 2021 Controversy)
The controversy was huge and too intense, and all of this happened just because of Michael Masi!
It was Michael [FIA’s race director] who broke the rules when he allowed only a number of drivers to unlap themselves who were between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen following the safety car issues in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This was not just a silly mistake. It took everything that Hamilton had been prepared for. For this mistake of Masi, he was fired from his job. Except for the Red Bull fandom, everyone was happy that Michael lost his job, as it provided a little satisfaction to Hamilton’s loss.
Meanwhile, recently, in an interview, the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel came out to claim that Formula One is missing Masi. Vettel got retired from Formula One by the end of the 2022 season. He was apparently not happy with the decision-making skills of FIA last season. In 2022 as Masi was fired, Eduardo Freitas and Neils Wittich were offered the job role. They did a good job, yet Sebastian suspected a lack of responsibility in decision-making last season. He believed Michael Masi would have helped in the situations where Eduardo and Neils failed.
Vettel Did Not Mean Masi, He Meant Charlie Whiting. He Misses Charlie* In Formula One.
Speaking in favor of Michael Masi means believing that he did correct in 2021 with Lewis Hamilton. As Sebastian said, Formula One needed Micheal, which means he is going against Mercedes and his friend Hamilton. But why would Sebastian Vettel, a man of love will speak in favor of Masi, who broke the rules and caused such a big controversy? No, Sebastian Vettel will never say anything like that! But he did. Speaking with Business F1, Vettel said, “What we are missing in Formula One right now is the experience that Michael holds and brought to the job. He did the job for so long and even grew up with it.”
But wait, Miachel Masi did not do the job for so long! he became the race director only in 2019 and left the role in 2021. How can he grow up there? Okay! Here we go. Business F1, who took the interview with Sebastian Vettel, later figured out that he got confused Michael Masi with Charlie Whiting. Because Charlie had quite an experience of 21 years. He indeed grew up in the job role, and he is always being missed for his experience in Formula One. So Sebastian Vettel did mean that there is a need for Charlie Whiting and not Michael Masi.