Michael Masi

Max Verstappen, yes.

The race director, Michael Masi, was widely criticized for his handling of withdrawing the safety car, which many felt was against protocol.

After their first lap collision at the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix, which Formula One team ordered their drivers, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, not to race each other again?

Racing Point.

We know Lewis has got history.

Michael used to be a-

Yeah

...

when I was a wee nipper growing up, anytime there was rain, it was settled.

It was Michael's party.

You're, you're getting ready to see Michael do some incredible things.

And Max is, in more ways than one, has taken on that baton.

I, I just, I know that being a race director is really a difficult thing to do, and one has to, uh, res-respect and, um, support somebody who does it right.

And, you know, I think the FIA, in my opinion, behaved disgracefully in 2021 by not supporting Michael Masi, because Michael Masi, um, did what he did with good intention.

He was within the regulations, that he had the things that he had the right to do, and he wasn't, he wasn't...

You know, they had to pay him an awful lot of money, uh, in the end, because, you know, he hadn't broken anything.

I would, I would love to think that over the Azerbaijan PA system, they just yell...

It was just Michael Masi's voice.

"Toto, it's called a motor race."

[laughs]

I saw somebody, I saw somebody say-

The PA says, "I'm fucking fired."

... "Was Mi- was Michael Masi the one directing this race again?"

I think he...

It's got to be one of the killers.

One of the boys.

One of the algo pop in.

One of the boys that can pop that algo is pissy.

Okay.

That's what you got to do.

I was pretty surprised that he was like, you know, yeah, my teammates had a good start of the year, but it's crunch time.

And...

Yeah.

But this is, this is a moment where genuinely I take the, I turn to Michael Masi, and it's like-

[laughs]

...

I mean, Kelvin O'Reilly running, uh, helping to run the, you know...

I think a young Michael Massi was floating around-

Yeah

...

Jonathan Wheatley, yeah.

Versus Wheatley and Massey, Michael Massey, where they were discussing and negotiating where Verstappen would start on the restart after the red flag because of this kind of chicane stuff.

And so, yeah, it's an absolute nightmare.

And I just don't know, like have a clear set of rules.