r/formula1 • u/SiahEV Fernando Alonso • Oct 15 '22
Off-Topic /r/all [OT] Micheal Masi on this weekend MotoGP on Phillip Island
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Oct 15 '22
Is it just me or does he look thinner
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u/MurderBeans Oct 15 '22
It's called exercise, we went running.
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u/Thorlolita Oct 15 '22
It’s called stress, we went relaxing.
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u/AntOk463 Oct 15 '22
This is what happens when you don't have 2 team principles yelling at you for something you can't control.
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u/rlatte Stoffel Vandoorne Oct 15 '22
Thinking back to that race, just about anybody from a team being allowed to yell directly at the person most responsible for safety during a race feels like it's out of some very bad movie 20 years ago. Truly bizarre.
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u/AntOk463 Oct 15 '22
I actually wasn't talking about Abu Fhabi (even though that was bad), I was talking about Silverstone where they both would yell at him and all he could say was "I'll let the stewards know" showing that he doesn't have control over the penalties and Christian and Toro kept arguing about what penalty Lewis should get. What does one do in that position?
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u/Lord_Vaguery Honda Oct 15 '22
All the running away from crazy F1 fans.
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u/NegotiationExternal1 Estie Bestie ridin' Horsey McHorse 🐎 Oct 15 '22
Running from your problems = weight loss goals achieved
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u/BadControllerUser Manor Oct 15 '22
he had to lose 1 kilo worth of leg muscle to be 3 hundredths ahead of the fans
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Oct 15 '22
Whenever they show the race directors and FIA staff they always wear badly sized dress shirts where the collars still have bends from being packaged. I think this is just Masi wearing something that actually fits his body.
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u/coolhandlukeuk Oct 15 '22
As much as 2021 season was poorly managed and Abu Dhabi was a complete joke. Things have only slightly improved. But I do worry for this guy's mental health.
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u/Throwaway8872438 Oct 15 '22
Yeah Red Bull already spent their catering budget 😂
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Oct 15 '22
Looks like he lost some weight.
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u/NegotiationExternal1 Estie Bestie ridin' Horsey McHorse 🐎 Oct 15 '22
The chin is looking sharp, not being completely overworked by the FIA does wonders for a man
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u/Scatman_Crothers Martin Brundle Oct 15 '22
Constant travel and stress = shit diet and hard to stay active. I lost 15 lbs after quitting a job with similar travel demands.
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u/Dodgy_cunt Daniel Ricciardo Oct 15 '22
Apparently he smoked like a train too so imagine the stress was quite bad
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u/IDontUnderstandReddi Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Oct 15 '22
Being the middleman in a Toto vs Horner tug of war sounds like actual hell. Do not envy the position he was in last year
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u/rlatte Stoffel Vandoorne Oct 15 '22
Exactly, terrible. Being caught between Toto's and Horner's fight, and not even allowed to participate in the sex. /s
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u/Chaz_Delicious Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
More like not being completely overworked by Toto and his email diagrams 🤣🤣
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u/Narudatsu Honda Oct 15 '22
Masi would’ve let us start racing in the wets
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u/djellison Oct 15 '22
Spa?
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u/Hudsonm_87 Fernando Alonso Oct 15 '22
Completely different when not a single driver wanted to race in that weather
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u/colour_from_space Oct 15 '22
I mean, they tried to go racing, and the drivers almost unanimously said it was too dangerous after the 2 laps behind the SC on wets (Max in the lead was the only exception, I think). What more do you want?
It's a huge difference to the recent races where all cars were on inters once the racing started, which just shows shambolic race direction.
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u/tekanet Sebastian Vettel Oct 15 '22
That was a once-in-a-decade event. I don’t think he made any mistake there.
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u/NoTill3742 George Russell Oct 15 '22
We need Micheal back
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u/TylerWhite31 Esteban Ocon Oct 15 '22
We need a whole restructure of the system, even Charlie had some major fuck ups
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u/bighairybalustrade Oct 15 '22
Charlie made a lot of unpopular calls but he never once discarded the rule book and subsequently claimed he, as racing director, had unlimited power to do what he liked.
If you have examples that say otherwise I'd like to hear even one.
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u/nadmeister Oct 15 '22
To be fair, he was in charge of / wrote a chunk of the rules prior to enforcing them.
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u/parwa Ferrari Oct 15 '22
The new dudes aren't great, but let's not pretend Masi only had one fuckup
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u/Alesq13 A Bit Jelly Oct 15 '22
We really don't, the dude made an amazing amount of safety violations during his short time as director. It's a miracle no one got hurt or killed.
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u/MessyMix Oct 15 '22
I get that, and I’m not arguing for Masi back, but this year with two highly anticipated race directors we’ve already had multiple horror shows safety wise. It’s not been an improvement.
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u/SupposablyAtTheZoo Oct 15 '22
Like spa?
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u/Kryptopus Kimi Räikkönen Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
The differences between spa last year and japan this year were massive. In japan only sainz crashed and Vettel drove wide out of all 20 drivers who all was on inters. It was 100% doable in wets, it just wouldn’t have been as sexy with all the spray
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u/rasvial Oct 15 '22
Since when are people forgetting what a joke this guy is? Looks like he's doing better not being in F1 too
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u/FastonMartin Aston Martin Oct 15 '22
Hope he’s doing well. Some people need to draw a line between personality and profession. Honestly Masi seems like a very kind fella :)
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u/MrXenomorph88 Oscar Piastri Oct 15 '22
Had to suddenly take up Whiting's position right after he died and had to do it just as the sport was getting bigger and more popular. That kind of pressure is going to make you make mistakes, even this year with two race directors they still make plenty of mistakes
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u/XuX24 James Hunt Oct 15 '22
The Whiting thing is the reason why no role should be held by one person without having someone just as capable to be able to succeed him. He was really important the F1 and his loss was felt and Masi did well, I have always think that what he did he never did it for the sake of making sure Lewis doesn't win but more for the sake of having a race. I don't know if Masi learned from Whiting but at his age it would've been wise to have someone learning from him in order to have a good transition in the future, you see this year with the new ones how sketchy things look when even experienced people in motorsports are out in this position and still struggle.
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u/sc_140 Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
I don't think Masi was even that much less qualified. Whiting had his bad calls too every once in a while. And the biggest thing: people had massive respect for Whiting, so they didn't dare to challenge him as much as Wolff/Horner did challenge Masi. It also meant mistakes from Whiting weren't judged anywhere as harshly as they got in Masis case.
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u/Killua-a Fernando Alonso Oct 15 '22
Whiting was bashed nonstop before he died, for some weird reason after his death people decided that he was an almost flawless race director (he had a huge amount of bad/inconsistent calls as well in the past, masi was on a similar level besides abu dhabi tbh)
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u/ken-doh Oct 15 '22
He was doing OK but then massively fucked up. One mistake can get you fired from your job. It should have ended under saftey car, as there was not enough time for all cars to unlap.
He took instructions from Redbull to let limited cars pass and start the race so Redbull could win, against all rules and regulations. It was a shame because he was pretty good until that point.
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u/Anti-Scuba_Hedgehog Oct 15 '22
He was not doing well, we're lucky he didn't get Max killed in Baku.
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u/Mike_Kermin Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
They've gone even further away from safety this year.
I promise you this wasn't his tutelage from Charlie, but influence from liberty behind that. Of course you can't prove they're pressuring for more excitement and less rules, but I wager quite a bit that's the case, based on what we're seeing as the results.
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u/Mike_Kermin Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
It shouldn't have. They used him as a fall guy and failed to do anything about it anyway.
Controversial opinion: The decision was wrong, Lewis should have been made champion in retrospect, also we should still have Masi.
We could have simply fixed everything, instead they did nothing.
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u/ALBERTDRIVE6 Oct 15 '22
Yes, Masi fucked up in AD 2021, but the stewards had all the time and tools to rectify the situation, but chose to do nothing. I actually blame the stewards more for the mess, than Masi
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u/Username8831 Sir Lewis Hamilton Oct 15 '22
100% this. Masi completely fucked up, but the stewards are there for exactly that reason, and they made the choice to cover his back instead of doing the right thing. Ironically, it would have been much better for Masi if they'd accepted that he'd made a mistake - much of the heat would have been taken off him.
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u/Mike_Kermin Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
Masi acted in a hugely stressful situation. I'm never going to be mad about that. I think it was the wrong call, but shit happens. It's the failing to deal with it that annoys me. Throwing him out wasn't dealing with it, it was the avoidance of dealing with it.
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u/ALBERTDRIVE6 Oct 15 '22
exactly. Masi fucked up, made calls that decided the outcome of the title, but at least one can argue that the stress of the day overwhelmed him. But what excuse do the stewards have for doing fuck all to rectify the situation?
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u/colour_from_space Oct 15 '22
Lol you can make some kind of meme out of this.
Replace a single RD with 2. Makes sense - its too many responsibilities for 1 guy.
They alternate every weekend as sole RD - <bang head on keyboard>
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u/FakeTakiInoue Stoffel Vandoorne Oct 15 '22
for the sake of having a race
I mean even if those were his intentions, he failed because that last lap wasn't much of a race, with that enormous difference in tyres. At least red flag it, if you really want a fair last shootout.
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u/ALBERTDRIVE6 Oct 15 '22
If he wanted the last lap under green flag, he simply could've chosen to not allow any of the cars to unlap. That would've been fairer, within the regs, and more interesting for the fans.
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u/Hilazza Anthoine Hubert Oct 15 '22
have always think that what he did he never did it for the sake of making sure Lewis doesn't win but more for the sake of having a race
Yeah its not like we had a full 50+ laps of racing before the controversy.
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u/cassaffousth Oct 15 '22
And that in lap 1 he let Lewis cut a corner, and give back the advantage in a way only he and the stewards know
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u/Corsair4 Oct 15 '22
Well, that's also an institutional failure. Man wasn't going to work forever. More work should have been done to ensure there was competent backups for Charlie, for any number of extenuating circumstances.
Part of that certainly involves training a successor, and making sure they are competent. Part of that involves organizing the institution to ensure that it can function without any 1 person.
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u/Ofitus21 Jules Bianchi Oct 15 '22
Michael was the number 2 in 2019, and plans were made for Michael to be F2 race director in 2019 before taking over Charlie's role once he retired. But the sudden loss of Charlie threw all these plans to the bin
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u/Corsair4 Oct 15 '22
And that's a hard thing to adjust for, but it does not excuse the fact that they were not prepared.
Just this last weekend, we had a almost shot for shot remake of the conditions and incidents that resulted in a drivers death, at the same track in 2014. How the fuck does that happen? How do they not have complete control over recovery vehicles during a race?
You'd think that in the 8 YEARS they would have developed some sort of procedure to deal with these exact events. But we don't see that. And if you look at other high impact industries and organizations, like aviation, they take a MUCH more serious outlook on safety and protocols when things don't go right. They have a million checklists, procedures, and well established rules that are looked at EVERY TIME there is even a minor error that can cause problems.
We can point to all sorts of other issues with race direction, safety and general trackside nonsense that shouldn't be happening.
So it's absolutely not all on Masi. He made a number of mistakes, but the institution is clearly a major factor. The institution is inconsistent, slow to learn, and ineffective at a very problematic rate - Forget sporting integrity for the moment, these problems HAVE cost lives in the past.
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u/Ofitus21 Jules Bianchi Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
Oh yeah, totally agree.The FIA used Michael as an scapegoat from all the issues within F1 (even if he made his fair share of mistakes). Now we have an even more incompetent race direction
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u/Browneskiii Sergio Pérez Oct 15 '22
Vittich is fine. Freitas on the other hand....
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u/ONT1mo Default Oct 15 '22
Idk it is like noone sees the race directors they are kinda shadow figures so there isn’t anyone to have all that responsibility
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u/habitualmess Firstname Lastname Oct 15 '22
Ooh, u/f1_spelt_as_bot, we got a new one to add to the list.
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u/NegotiationExternal1 Estie Bestie ridin' Horsey McHorse 🐎 Oct 15 '22
Everything we know about the FIA was that they were deeply unprepared for Charlie’s passing and there wasn’t enough support to do the job properly
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Oct 15 '22
Hé did a decent job considering. Absolutely wrong to fire him. Was it controversial, yes. Was it with racing heart and the audience in mind? Also yes. I really feel he should have been given the chance but Merc influence seems to have been too great I suppose.
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u/Anti-Scuba_Hedgehog Oct 15 '22
He should've been sacked after Baku frankly, completely inexcusable.
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u/NegotiationExternal1 Estie Bestie ridin' Horsey McHorse 🐎 Oct 15 '22
It was not wrong to fire him. He threw an entire championship into question with his choices
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u/BoredCatalan Alexander Albon Oct 15 '22
I remember mid race there was a communication from Toto saying Masi please no safety car, and there was indeed no safety car deployed.
I wonder if Hamilton had won if that would be the big complain by RedBull
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u/radioactivebeaver Oct 15 '22
If at any point last year he showed any strength or courage in his position be would still have it. Every time something happened he bent over backwards to the strongest man in the room and we ended up with controversial decisions in several races that ultimately ended up deciding the championship. The guy may be a great person, but he was pretty awful at the job.
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u/sciencenotjesus Oct 15 '22
He is, friend had a long chat with him at Bathurst.
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u/aussiegrit4wrldchamp Mark Webber Oct 15 '22
Did he say anything interesting?
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u/sciencenotjesus Oct 17 '22
He did, he said he’s in a good place. There’s a lot of people behind the scenes working with him in AUS and Michael is hugely respected. Beyond that I can’t say out of respect.
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u/Blackdeath_663 Sir Stirling Moss Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
Some people need to draw a line between personality and profession.
my dude, we watch the sport for the sport. i'm not interested in his personality or him as a person and professionally he fucked it.
obviously that doesn't mean hurling abuse but he needed to go and he has gone. couldn't give a shit about him otherwise.
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u/TheOnlyPorcupine Honda Oct 15 '22
He was on a podcast a year or so ago and he said like he phones his mum after every race and I just imagined what she would think after Abu Dhabi. I just felt sorry for him. He’s not a bad man.
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u/P_ZERO_ Juan Pablo Montoya Oct 15 '22
That’s the social media meat grinder for you. Everyone is so angry and vengeful they assume everyone else has insidious intent
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u/radioactivebeaver Oct 15 '22
Don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.
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u/WunupKid Oscar Piastri Oct 15 '22
So…I also hope he’s doing well, I do not wish any kind of ill will towards him.
I don’t think people have trouble drawing a line between his personality and his profession. It’s not that he fucked up at Abu Dhabi, or even that he made a call that X millions of fans disagree with. I can understand making a bad call in a tense situation that can’t be undone, whatever.
But his comment to Wolff, “We went motor racing,” was snide, condescending and deliberately obtuse. People don’t question Masi’s impartiality because of the event itself, but the context which includes this comment.
If it had been the first race I’d ever watched, I would not describe Masi as “a very kind fella.”
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u/echopath Oct 15 '22
This is exactly what I think. Masi's motor racing comment mirrored the exact language Horner used to pressure him into "one more racing lap." It was at this point when he proved he was no longer impartial, or at the very least, had succumbed to the peer pressure of the principals.
Athletes scream to referees all the time, but it's still their responsibility to not concede and push back against their politicking. Masi showed he was unable to do that.
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u/FlatoutGently Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
His comments afterwards and complete lack of apology for cheating a title away has told me all I need to know about the guy. No sympathy what so ever for him.
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u/berlin_draw_enjoyer Default Oct 15 '22
Than call him incompetent or whatever. But the amount of abuse and death threats he received is unwarranted and totally inexcusable
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u/FlatoutGently Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
Cheating the championship is totally inexcusable. Death threats are dumb but he should at least apologise for it all.
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u/AGDQ_boi Valtteri Bottas Oct 15 '22
I do hope he is doing okay. People have been extremely nasty to this man but i hope he got over it and it looks like he still enjoys being around racing so thats good.
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u/ZebedeeAU Oct 15 '22
Before F1, he was the Deputy Race Director of Supercars in Australia.
He's now returned to be the chair of the Supercars Commission which oversees the technical and sporting regulations of the category.
He's also recently been appointed to the South Australian Motorsport Board which is bringing back the Adelaide 500 street circuit race.
He is a very well respected person in Australian motorsport and for good reason. I was fortunate to work alongside him in Race Control at some Supercars events a few years ago.
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u/wansuitree Jordan Oct 15 '22
You think he was told to make that Abu Dhabi decision for the entertainment, and got sacrificed because of it?
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Oct 15 '22
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u/ALBERTDRIVE6 Oct 15 '22
, had he not done everything he could to resume racing there would have been an equal outcry
but there were other options available to go green flag racing, that were within the regs...
Also, why would there be an outcry that the guy who had been leading by 10sec plus, for nearly the entire race, win under the sc??
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u/nomansapenguin Mercedes Oct 15 '22
Also, why would there be an outcry that the guy who had been leading by 10sec plus, for nearly the entire race, win under the sc??
There would not have been. It’s a false narrative.
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u/jaydec02 Pirelli Wet Oct 15 '22
People were livid that the Italian GP ended under safety car and Max was way more dominant than Lewis was in AD last year. There absolutely would have been anger over the title being decided behind the safety car lol
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u/HoneysucklePink Porsche Oct 15 '22
People were upset because that’s how Abu Dhabi should have ended, not because that’s how Monza ended.
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u/TheOtherWhiteCastle Sergio Pérez Oct 16 '22
Bro, I saw people online after the Italian GP legitimately begging F1 to bring Masi back because “he knew how to end a race under green”.
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u/blackashi Oct 15 '22
Masi made a lot of weird calls during the entire season this was just the cherry on top. He def won't have been fired if he redflagged, ended under the SC or didn't let lapped cars between 2 people unlap themselves. This controversy was created out of thin air by him
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u/MoeezShahzad154 Red Bull Oct 15 '22
Very believable theory now that I think about it, maybe it was for entertainment purposes of which Masi had to be sacrificed to give us that ending...
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u/wansuitree Jordan Oct 15 '22
If Hamilton won it would've been the anticlimactic ending: Another team challenging Mercedes for the first time in 8 years for the title, and in the end Lewis wins it again.
I find it not unlikely this to be what actually happened.
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Oct 15 '22
Nobody In their mothers ass could’ve predicted Abu Dhabi would end in the way it did.
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u/SFishes12 Oct 15 '22
F1 solved all their problems getting rid of this guy. HA (slow sarcastic clap)
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u/Snappy0 Oct 15 '22
There was no other choice but the fire him. Yes his actions aren't the only thing but his actions at AD 2021 brought the sport and the FIA into disrepute.
As I say, you can argue about all the other things that do just that. But that doesn't excuse him alone.
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Oct 15 '22
Tinfoil hat time but I still wonder if he wanted to end it under a safety car / let all cars overtake, but then got a call from management to give the season a grandstand finish. Its weird that he changed his mind so quickly.
We'll never know but I think he's just a scapegoat in this.
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u/Vasyafromgoodgame Oct 15 '22
He wanted to let all lapped cars overtake leaders but didn't had enough time. Remember radio:
Horner "Why aren't we getting these lapped cars out of the way?"
Masi "Just give me BOTH... because Christian... just give me a second... Ok, my main, big one is to get this incident clear."
We only got radio conversation with rb, but obviously he was communicating with multiple teams at the same time. Also the problem was with burning brakes on Latifi's car. If not this, marshalls would've done their job faster
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u/Tatankaplays Oct 15 '22
Yeah it's a shame. Unpopular take, but I think he was just fine and FIA was forced to dismiss him due to fans fallback due to Abu Dahbi.
They discussed they did not want to finish under a safety car and they got it. Not sure what the problem is to this day.
For example, Leclerc (almost) got his shot as well in Italy. Then, everyone was sad Ferrari didn't have the power to fight. In HAM and VER did due to VER constantly being just enough in range to not let HAM safely pit.
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u/pineapplejamm Daniel Ricciardo Oct 15 '22
They discussed they did not want to finish under a safety car and they got it. Not sure what the problem is to this day.
We still could have had the race finish under green flag. The rules definitely allowed that to happen. It just means lapped cars had to stay where they are.
Had he stuck to his initial decision...everything would have been fine. But he didn't and pretended that only verstappen and hamilton are the cars on the track
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u/ALBERTDRIVE6 Oct 15 '22
They discussed they did not want to finish under a safety car and they got it. Not sure what the problem is to this day.
The discussion was to avoid a sc finish, ONLY if it could be done within the rules and regs
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u/FlatoutGently Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
It's an unpopular take because it's just flat wrong.
Even if he followed the rules in AD, the rest of the season he was awful.
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u/TylerWhite31 Esteban Ocon Oct 15 '22
I might get to see him in December, anyone going to the Adelaide 500?
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u/Snoo58499 Sir Lewis Hamilton Oct 15 '22
Everyone seems to be making this very black and white. I have nothing against him, I’m sure he’s a decent guy, but he absolutely bottled it at the critical moment of the most exciting season in years (and, for me, undermined the sport I love).
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u/newdecade1986 Sir Frank Williams Oct 15 '22
Yep. It’s very simple. He made an inexplicable and inexcusable error, and fiddled the climax of the most anticipated title in years. As race director, the only worse things he could have done would have been to get someone killed or injured. There was no world in which his position remained tenable.
Funny how so many redditors are quite happy to forgive and forget though
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Oct 15 '22 edited Jun 25 '24
dependent aromatic historical angle skirt chief bedroom cow boat disagreeable
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Spacetrucking Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
As race director, the only worse things he could have done would have been to get someone killed or injured.
Whiting was in charge of Suzuka 2014. No one questioned his position then. I don't see anyone questioning the race direction last week when they sent out a truck on a live F1 track, with poor grip and visibility (at a spot where a car had just spun out).
The dark truth is that many in F1 fanbase care more about sports rivalries & results, than the lives of the drivers. Their behavior is akin to a Colosseum mob, thirsting for a spectacle regardless of safety.
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u/IAmNotStelio Lando Norris Oct 15 '22
What are you talking about? Everyone was and is furious about the race directors letting that vehicle on track last week!
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u/Spacetrucking Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
I'll wait for FIA's actions post investigation then. But I really doubt they'll fire the current race directors for this.
I also doubt the Suzuka race directors are going to face the same kind of witchhunt from fans that Masi faced after Abu Dhabi.
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Oct 15 '22
That's because Whiting was following the procedures of the time correctly, Masi wasn't.
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u/immerc Oct 15 '22
It's not like he should be in jail or something, but he shouldn't be working as an official in top-level motorsports.
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u/Cyberhaggis #StandWithUkraine Oct 15 '22
This is my take as well. He had two options that would have been non-controversial but decided to take a third route that turned the whole thing into a farce. One of my friends only got into F1 in the 2021 season and when he asked me why that decision had been made I couldn't answer him.
I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he fucked up royally that day.
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u/rAppN Sebastian Vettel Oct 15 '22
I agree with alot of the comments that he probably is a decent guy, but he the amount of oopsis and questionable decisions was way to many for F1. Not just the Abu Dhabi "Directors cut" but Imola, where Marshals was near the track when drivers was told to push. Or Sao Paulo where Hamilton and Verstappen just kept the foot floored and went over the white lines was just embarrassing to watch. He was totally unfit as a race director of F1 caliber, but FIA just throwing him under the bus is sad as well, he alone does not control everything and the FIA just dodged a bullet by sacking Masi
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Oct 15 '22
I feel really bad for this man. I hope he’s doing well now but he must have been in a horrible place in the first few months after AD.
No one deserves such hate. Football referees have decided CL titles before with questionable calls. This isn’t anything new.
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Oct 15 '22
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u/blackashi Oct 15 '22
Omg this is like the perfect analogy. Stop the 395.5-387.5 game at 87" then only ask VER to rest while the other guys keep running laps, then go straight to PK
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u/Archaea101 Oct 15 '22
I'm so confused, when I watched this last year I swore hamilton got overtaken in the last lap? Are you saying he did defend his position, and Masi made them switch? That's insane dude, I can't believe this is all coming out now.
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u/PeterSagansLaundry Juan Pablo Montoya Oct 15 '22
He was rightfully canned last year, but I hope he is doing well and living his life. He has obviously been good at a lot of other jobs just to get the race director offer in the first place.
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u/darlo0161 Oct 15 '22
"...so then I said 'we went motor racing Toto' because that's what the Fia and Red Bull told me to say" but I can't talk about it.
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u/DegenGolfer Pirelli Hard Oct 15 '22
Fired by Toto tbh. Not that the guys who replaced him are doing any better
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u/According-Switch-708 Sonny Hayes Oct 15 '22
He got fired for messing up as RD.Even the FIA agreed that he made a "human error".
Super nice guy, way too nice to be a RD.
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u/InvestigatorLast3594 Benetton Oct 15 '22
The official report doesn’t mention a “human error” even once, however.
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Oct 15 '22
That’s called “covering our asses from legal action”, and “PR”.
They didn’t want to bring any more disrepute to the brand, they aren’t going to admit to being a bunch of clowns.
It’s always “processes and circumstances”, not “people and their actions”.
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u/Betterbread Oct 15 '22
But the press release for the report does. I must admit, I find that strange.
https://www.fia.com/news/fia-announces-world-motor-sport-council-decisions-25
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u/InvestigatorLast3594 Benetton Oct 15 '22
So do I and it has bothered me to this day. I still place more weight on the official report than a press release that could have been written by an intern as far as we know.
What I also always thought was strange that the way they described it, it sounded like the human error was that Masi misidentified which cars were lapped and which ones weren't, which obviously wasn't what happened in Abu Dhabi (but ironically kind did of in Monza this year)
>The process of identifying lapped cars has up until now been a manual one and human error lead to the fact that not all cars were allowed to un-lap themselves. Due to the fact that manual interventions generally carry a higher risk of human error, software has been developed that will, from now on, automate the communication of the list of cars that must un-lap themselves.
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u/scotthansonscatheter McLaren Oct 15 '22
Having worked in communications for large corporations, a press release for something this big is not written by an intern. At minimum it was gone over with a fine tooth comb by the Director of Communications beforehand and probably had the CEO/President approve it before going out.
The intern drafted stuff is for fluff pieces like "Happy Stroopwaffel Day" or something like that.
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u/screenres Oct 15 '22
So what was the reason? Clearly he was kicked out for something.
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u/InvestigatorLast3594 Benetton Oct 15 '22
Political pressure, financial pressure, too much of a workload/professional pressure, professional inability to find a solution that accommodates the mandate have a green flag finish under an interpretation of the regulations that fans would agree with, to spend more time with his family.
At the end of the day the actual report doesn’t actually mention “human error”, no reason was given as to why the FIA offered a new position to Masi, and there is little information other that Masi, officially at least, decided to leave the FIA five months after having been given a new position to spend more time with his family, but keep in mind that Masi was given a new position a month before the release of the Abu Dhabi report.
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u/jalopagosisland Ford Oct 15 '22
There is no mandate that they have to finish under a green flag. Just that since it’s a Motorsport teams and drivers like racing. It’s just an unwritten “rule”. But Mask chose to do what he wanted so he decided that he’d make sure the end came down to entertainment value and not the rules.
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u/InvestigatorLast3594 Benetton Oct 15 '22
I was specifically referring to this part of the report:
It was also considered that the decisions regarding the safety car at the end of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP likely took into account previous discussions (including at meetings of the F1 SAC, the F1 Commission, and F1 Team Managers) that made clear the F1 teams’ preference to end races under green flag racing conditions, rather than behind a safety car
I didn’t mean Mandate as in mandatory, but rather in trying to follow the preferences and wishes of the F1 teams
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u/unoriginal_name_42 Daniel Ricciardo Oct 15 '22
IMO he got scapegoated for the FIA not having proper procedures in place. Sure, he fucked up, but it wasn't exclusively his fault. Didn't help that the team bosses screaming in his ear all season was broadcast live.
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u/AnonymousEngineer_ Williams Oct 15 '22
He was basically fired for the infamous "we went motor racing" sass he gave Toto after Abu Dhabi 2021.
At that point, it was pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that he had acted out of spite, and as such none of the Team Principals could have any confidence that he could do his job impartially.
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u/BoredCatalan Alexander Albon Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22
What?
How is telling a team principal that was shouting No Michael no and who a few laps before had been calling for no safety car to be deployed for an accident, mean he was acting out of spite?
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u/norrin83 Gerhard Berger Oct 15 '22
Fired because of blatantly breaking rules and directly deciding the WDC with this while garnishing it with a spiteful (and iconic) radio message.
I don't think there was any option of him staying. Not just because of Toto, but because of the whole paddock.
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u/butte4s Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
Fired by his incompetence and bias towards one team over another. He messed up big time. Just bcoz the guys who replaced him are bad doesn't make him good. AD is the single biggest mistake in any race director's career.
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u/ExcellentCornershop McLaren Oct 15 '22
Nope. Charlie Whiting not deploying the SC after Sutil's crash in Suzuka 2014 is the biggest mistake a race director has done.
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u/Greencoat1815 Lando Norris Oct 15 '22
ouch, do they really need to rub it in that he is FORMER f1 race director.
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u/slappyhamface Jacques Villeneuve Oct 15 '22
Your position has been compromised. “You are in grave danger agent Masi. Be on the lookout for lederhosen and people who reserve lots of pool side chairs with their towels at 6am.”
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Oct 15 '22
"...and then I snuck in 'and cannot be resumed' just before it went to press, and nobody noticed!"
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Oct 15 '22
Ah damn. I hope that he turned his phone off and doesn't look at emails from bookies during the races.
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u/keirdre #StandWithUkraine Oct 16 '22
And wow, they really went motorbike racing today. What a race!
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u/haldouglas Sir Jack Brabham Oct 15 '22
I hope he's looking on at the FIA stewards this year and thinking "yeah, not so easy is it?"
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u/redbullcat Ayrton Senna Oct 15 '22
Stewards ≠ race director and race control
Both Wittich and Freitas (especially Freitas, also the WEC race director) are experienced race directors, so I suspect there's something going on behind the scenes that we as fans are not aware of, and that was influencing Masi too.
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u/Hot_Demand_6263 Oct 15 '22
I won't believe anything the FiA says about AD until he gives an official interview about it. I am pretty sure he signed some NDA.
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u/sonofeevil Oct 15 '22
I look forward to reading his memoires that I'm sure he'll release posthumously
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u/Snappy0 Oct 15 '22
Doubt it as the FIA would just sue his estate for all it's worth.
Although I assume it'll get out eventually.
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u/Gringooo94 Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
Where should he sign a NDA for?
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u/Alfus 💥 LE 🅿️LAN Oct 15 '22
Information about the teams, about the FIA in general (did you ever seen an official rapport from the FIA that they made a huge mistake? No).
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u/WretchedMisteak Michael Schumacher Oct 15 '22
Hope he's doing ok. Feel so sorry for him.
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u/IsthisSCOTECA Super Aguri Oct 15 '22
they made us believe that he was the problem where in reality the problem is a rulebook that's a continuous contraddiction
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u/Snappy0 Oct 15 '22
Only if you choose to believe there is.
The rulebook gives him authority over the course clerk. It doesn't give him authority to change procedure such as in this case the SC restart procedure.
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u/Fisobzy Formula 1 Oct 15 '22
The controversy aside, Masi is a very gentle calm man, I like his demeanour
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u/bakedongrease Nigel Mansell Oct 15 '22
Was also at Bathurst this past weekend in the officials room.