Horner sheds new light on staggering call that got Aussie sacked
Christian Horner has sensationally opened up on the intense pressure he placed on axed FIA race director Michael Masi - an Australian - during the controversial 2021 Formula 1 world championship.
Max Verstappen‘s maiden drivers’ championship title remains shrouded in controversy following an unprecedented safety car procedure that effectively handed the Red Bull driver the victory over Lewis Hamilton.
Fresh details have emerged from Horner’s memoir. Mark Thompson
In his upcoming memoir, Horner admitted to deliberately asking and pushing Masi to clear the lapped traffic between Verstappen and Hamilton.
By placing “pressure” on then-FIA racing director Masi to unlap the cars behind, Masi effectively created a one-lap dash between the two rivals, with Verstappen winning the duel due to his fresher tyres.
“That meant that Max would have to pass all five cars before getting to Lewis, which was impossible in one racing lap,” Horner wrote in his memoir, Drive.
“The Abu Dhabi grand prix, and by extension an entire season, was being concluded in the most unsatisfying manner. I couldn’t understand the decision.
“The watching world wanted to see Max and Lewis go head-to-head in a title decider, not crawl to an underwhelming finish.
“Anything else was a disappointment.”
The last-lap decision saw Masi axed before the beginning of the 2022 season and a reassessment of safety car procedures was called, alongside removing the broadcast’s ability to hear direct radio messages between teams and the FIA.
Mercedes had gambled by keeping Hamilton out on track to maintain his lead and weather any late restarts after Nicholas Latifi’s late crash in Abu Dhabi.
However, with Masi being pressured into creating one last racing lap, the seven-time world champion was left highly vulnerable and was ultimately overtaken.
“I decided to apply some more pressure on race control,” admitted Horner.
“‘Come on, Michael, we need to get this race going; why aren’t we getting these lapped cars out the way?’ I said.
“‘It’ll be such a shame to end everything under a safety. The lapped cars should unlap. Let’s race.’”
Horner elaborated on the late-race strategy, noting that Red Bull knew they had “nothing to lose” by rolling the dice and pitting Verstappen for fresh tyres under the safety car.
“(Red Bull) had nothing to lose by taking the stop. Mercedes had that awkward decision: stick or pit, and they chose to stick on the assumption that the race might not get going,” Horner told the High Performance podcast.
“Then, of course, the race director then says that there’s going to be no unlapped cars, and then he changes his mind.
“We’re pushing hard that this is not the way to finish a championship, and there was more than enough time to unlap all the cars.
“He made the decision, which was within his remit, as per the regulations, but it had never been done before, to just allow the cars between Max and Lewis to unlap.”
Max Verstappen won a controversial 2021 decider. Formula 1 via Getty Images
Horner also revealed that Red Bull initially did not know Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had established a direct line of communication to the race director, leaving Red Bull on the back foot against their primary rivals in the combative fight.
“You’re fighting as hard as you can for your team, and it only became apparent to me at Barcelona that year that when they started to broadcast the communications with the race director, that Toto had been speaking directly to Michael Masi,” Horner revealed.
“[I thought], hang on, that’s not on. You’re putting pressure on the referee here. So I was like to our team manager, ‘Right. Get me a line’.
“I never spoke to Charlie Whiting in 15 years that he was there; it was always through the team manager, and so then you start.
“Of course, if you can put pressure on and defend your position, and so that was ratcheting up through that year.”
