Toto Wolff reignites Michael Masi row with “lunatic” jibe over Lewis Hamilton title loss

Toto Wolff has reflected on Lewis Hamilton’s 2021 F1 title, describing FIA race director Michael Masi as a “lunatic”.

Hamilton was leading the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix up until the final lap, having controlled the race from the front.

The win for Hamilton would have handed him a record-breaking eighth F1 world title.

However, a late-race Safety Car caused by Williams’ Nicholas Latifi led to one of the most controversial decisions in sporting history.

In a bid to get the race back underway and for the title to be decided on-track, Masi allowed a number of backmarkers to unlap themselves.

Masi didn’t follow the FIA’s guidelines, though, as not all lapped cars were given the chance to do so. 

Only the cars between Hamilton and Max Verstappen were allowed through.

This gave Verstappen, who was on fresh tyres, a free run at Hamilton on the final lap.

Wolff slams Masi over Abu Dhabi 2021

In an interview with The Telegraph, Wolff admitted that regarding Abu Dhabi 2021, he hadn’t experienced that level of “loss of control” since being a child.

“I have not experienced the loss of control of a situation since I was a child,” Wolff said.

“There is one lunatic who can basically destroy the record of the greatest champion of all time.”

Susie Wolff, head of F1 Academy, also reflected on the incident, describing her reaction as “disbelief”.

“It was disbelief. That one person’s decision to interpret the rules, in a way that they had never been interpreted before, could have caused such an outcome. It sat so heavily with me, for a long time afterwards,” she said.

Following an FIA investigation, Masi’s actions were described as “human error”. 

He was subsequently replaced as race director ahead of the 2022 F1 season.