2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina, Dec 10 - 12

[dans79]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/

78.3 percent of Formula 1 fans believe that the FIA should fire race director Michael Masi following his handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and last season as a whole.

That’s according to a poll of just over 4,000 readers of Formula1News.co.uk, which asked: “Should the FIA fire Michael Masi as a result of his handling of the 2021 AbuDhabiGP?”

The largest poll I could quickly find.

[Jolle]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/

78.3 percent of Formula 1 fans believe that the FIA should fire race director Michael Masi following his handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and last season as a whole.

That’s according to a poll of just over 4,000 readers of Formula1News.co.uk, which asked: “Should the FIA fire Michael Masi as a result of his handling of the 2021 AbuDhabiGP?”

The largest poll I could quickly find.

The a Dutch autosport site would do a poll, it probably go to 99% not, if I read their comments.

[dans79]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/

78.3 percent of Formula 1 fans believe that the FIA should fire race director Michael Masi following his handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and last season as a whole.

That’s according to a poll of just over 4,000 readers of Formula1News.co.uk, which asked: “Should the FIA fire Michael Masi as a result of his handling of the 2021 AbuDhabiGP?”

The largest poll I could quickly find.

The a Dutch autosport site would do a poll, it probably go to 99% not, if I read their comments.

I'm not sure I understand you comment, but the poll was conducted via twitter, and had the hash tags FIA, Masi, AbuDhabiGP, so just about anyone on the planet could have participated thanks to the language localization twitter provides.

[Jolle]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/



The largest poll I could quickly find.

The a Dutch autosport site would do a poll, it probably go to 99% not, if I read their comments.

I'm not sure I understand you comment, but the poll was conducted via twitter, and had the hash tags FIA, Masi, AbuDhabiGP, so just about anyone on the planet could have participated thanks to the language localization twitter provides.

Those kinds of polls only show up for people who follow that feed, plus a few more due to retweets. Most dutch fans are on dutch sites and leave the British media for what it is. Especially small websites like these.

[Ferry]

Yes, I support Max, and no, not a Lewis hater.

I admire you for that. As a Hamilton fan, I'm on the opposite side. But I don't hate Max. He's damned good! He's done nothing wrong, driving like a hero all season long. You could argue he's too aggressive at times. But I'm a bit biased... Max (and RB) put them selves in the position to be able to fight for the title in the last race. So him winning it was not undeserving in any way. And you could say the same about Lewis. Both of them worthy champions, no doubt.

In my view it boils down to if the rules were broken or not. If Masi was in his right to overturn the "normal" rules, then Max is the rightful champion. If he broke the rules, Lewis should be champion. What happened until the last laps in the last race is irrelevant. Both had put them selves in a good position on merit. Can the race director overturn the rules, or can he not? That's the springing point.

Silverstone was a racing incident in contrast to what some others claim,

I tend to agree. Max could easily have gone a bit wider. It would probably have been wiser. Securing at least second place and 18 points. If not for the F-up by Masi Lewis would have won by 6-7-8 points. So did Max become champion because of his agressiveness, or in spite of it? A bit more conservative at Silverstone, and he could safe in a second place in the last race to become champion. Easy to say in hindsight, I know.

[Zynerji]

I'm surprised to see this thread still going!

Mistakes were made, and the result is the most Epic and Mythic showdown season setting of all time.

The heartbreak will just make the redemption all the sweeter. Accept it and anticipate the record breaking 2022 sesson!

[e30ernest]

I can't wait for the coverage of Drive To Survive about this. I wonder if they'll cover things up there, or sensationalize it even further.

[Ryar]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/

78.3 percent of Formula 1 fans believe that the FIA should fire race director Michael Masi following his handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and last season as a whole.

That’s according to a poll of just over 4,000 readers of Formula1News.co.uk, which asked: “Should the FIA fire Michael Masi as a result of his handling of the 2021 AbuDhabiGP?”

The largest poll I could quickly find.

4000 readers of a UK website.

[dans79]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/

78.3 percent of Formula 1 fans believe that the FIA should fire race director Michael Masi following his handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and last season as a whole.

That’s according to a poll of just over 4,000 readers of Formula1News.co.uk, which asked: “Should the FIA fire Michael Masi as a result of his handling of the 2021 AbuDhabiGP?”

The largest poll I could quickly find.

4000 readers of a UK website.

So what? I'm not British, and I don't see a problem with it. Also you must have missed the poll was conducted via Twitter.

[Csmith1980]

https://formula1news.co.uk/78-of-f1-fan ... ntroversy/

78.3 percent of Formula 1 fans believe that the FIA should fire race director Michael Masi following his handling of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and last season as a whole.

That’s according to a poll of just over 4,000 readers of Formula1News.co.uk, which asked: “Should the FIA fire Michael Masi as a result of his handling of the 2021 AbuDhabiGP?”

The largest poll I could quickly find.

4000 readers of a UK website.

You do understand there are more Hamilton haters in the UK than fans, right?
Don’t believe me, just look at any social media post that mentions his name.

[ringo]

Best course of action would have been to cancel the whole YMGP result…

No, the race would be called at 3/4 distance correct?

[johnny comelately]

This race and others showed how tremendously quick Max is as well as his ability to skillfully pass where some others dont.
Unfortunately an aspect of his style is also akin to what in C grade motorbike racing was termed "a desperate", particularly so when there were negative consequences.
Or in soccer parlance slide tackling, with all its connotations.

[ringo]

With the new wheatley radio.. I am beginning to wonder if Masi is biased towards Max. It has been evident throughout the season. The Spa freebie points, and many other calls. It was almost as if Masi and whoever else behind the scenes wanted to make sure that Max wins the WDC. I am very disturbed about Masi's "understood".
It was as if he was on a mission to flip the result and hand Max the win by any means necessary.
For those who were asking for a red flag as an alternative. Karun Chandok noticed that the brakes on the Williams caught fire and that extended the safety car. If the race was flagged, then when it is restarted the cars would have to go around on an outlap, and there would be no more racing laps. So if all rules were followed then Hamilton would have been champion.

In those last laps I also noticed how quiet and depressed the stands were with the orange army. It was as if they were at a world cup final and losing it at home. I think this also created pressure on Masi, and his puppeteer to conjure up a Max win. A Hamilton 8 x WDC would have been a very boring end of the season for Liberty and the FIA.
Also his liberal helmet on top of the podium would be a very unwanted statement in the the middle east. So I think there was a lot going against Hamilton media wise. Sporting wise.. the sport was not priority.

As for people blaming Mercedes for lobbying as well. I think this is wrong and just an attempt to even out blame. I noted this from Matin Brundle and other Sky media personnel. Totto in no way lobbied for rules to be broken. It's a huge difference between him and redbull. He does ask for the virtual safety car yes, and he does ask for the safety car to stay out. But he only asks for reasonable choices that are perfectly within the rules.
Redbull on the other hand were very desperate, and I feel wheatley needs to be investigated as well. He may have been pressured by Horner for a miralce to make use of Max fresh tyres.
Masi's bank accounts also need to be checked, just to ensure there was no hanky panky that took place.

[DChemTech]

Totto in no way lobbied for rules to be broken. It's a huge difference between him and redbull. He does ask for the virtual safety car yes, and he does ask for the safety car to stay out. But he only asks for reasonable choices that are perfectly within the rules.
Redbull on the other hand were very desperate, and I feel wheatley needs to be investigated as well. He may have been pressured by Horner for a miralce to make use of Max fresh tyres.
Masi's bank accounts also need to be checked, just to ensure there was no hanky panky that took place.

What are you on about? Wheatley never asked Masi to break the rules and only let a few cars pass. He said:

"Obviously those lapped cars, you don't need to let them go right away round and catch up with the back of the pack"

Which is correct. With only a lap to go, a gap between the leaders and lapped cars of some 10 seconds is enough to prevent them from getting in the way. But in no way does the above imply to only let -some- cars through. Wheatley's request was no more outrageous than Toto saying "No SC please" or anything along those lines. When I talk about Toto playing games with the FIA, I mean that they strongly lobbied for mid-season rule changes with respect to the wings and pit stops, and incredibly, succeeded. Talking about a team influencing the season.

[Jolle]

If would go full conspiracy theory on Masi,:
We know two things,
1 Masi’s way of being likeable is to do requests
2 Liberty has been worried that Hamilton retires without a WC at the front of the field (that’s why they “helped” Alpine with the return of Alonso, because for 2021 there was a possibility to have only Kimi on the grid as a WC)

So, could Liberty also be whispering in Masi’s ear that they would like it very much to have Verstappen as a WC before Hamilton calls it quits?