McLaren F1 drivers plead in favor of Masi

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo offered their support in favour of FIA race director Michael Masi and insist the Aussie should remain in his role.

Masi is under fire for his controversial handling of F1's title decider last December in Abu Dhabi where the Aussie circumvented the rules governing safety car periods to offer fans a one lap shootout between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Both Norris and Ricciardo acknowledged the FIA stewards' general lack of consistency regarding the application of penalties and sanctions, but both drivers believe that F1's race director should not be judged on one botched call, regardless of its unfair outcome.

Norris was among the five drivers initially positioned between Hamilton and Verstappen and who were allowed to overtake the leader, while Ricciardo was running further back among those who were not permitted to unlap themselves.

"It’s still a tough one to answer but I think the obvious thing that we all want is consistency," said Norris, addressing the events that unfolded in Abu Dhabi during McLaren's presentation on Friday at Woking of the team's 2022 season.

"And when something is inconsistent like that weekend is when people get annoyed and frustrated.

"I think it’s still good that we have different stewards for different weekends because you don’t want that bias going in with anyone. So I think a lot, like 95% or 99% of things are good, we just want that consistency.

"You see us make mistakes as drivers, it’s easy for people to see that and it’s the same with them, right? It’s human to make mistakes.

"And if that was just something that happened in such a quick time then that’s the way it is.

"I support Michael and I think a lot of other things he did were great last season or the past few seasons we’ve been working with him.

"A lot of things are good. It’s just ironing out these small things which can have a big impact.

"We have confidence that things are going in a good direction. And they are realising areas where they can improve or just make less mistakes, or whatever. From that side I have confidence."

• Read also: Brundle admits resurfaced Masi audio 'really uncomfortable' for F1

Ricciardo was on the same page as his teammate and advocated for Masi retaining his role as race director in the future.

"If Michael wants to stay then he should stay," he commented. "I don’t think one event should be the picture of everything.

"I went home for Christmas and inevitably friends, family were like ‘oh that last race, what do you think?’

"So it was certainly mixed, I would say a little bit more were like ‘not sure how I felt about that’ but then others were like ‘well that was pretty entertaining last lap, title gets decided’.

"I had a front row seat for some reason, so I was like ‘is this really happening? this is nuts’.

"It was a moment in time for sure and not everyone is going to appreciate that moment in time. But I think lovers of the sport are still going to be lovers of the sport."

Referring to the incessant back and forth radio communication between Masi and the team principals of Red Bull and Mercedes during the race's neutralization in Abu Dhabu, and to the post-race fallout in the media, Ricciardo reckoned there has never been so much pressure and public scrutiny on a race official.

"I feel there’s too much pressure on them to be honest," argued the Honey Badger.

"The sport, in general, has a lot more exposure now which is great in some elements but it also probably puts others under pressure who probably aren’t asking for that pressure or aren’t used to it or whatever.

"It’s hard to look back in time and think when was a race director or stewards or whichever so much in the media. It’s kind of quite unique and kind of unknown territory.

"So I don’t know if the word is unfair or what but I think that’s where it was already a bit of a ripple in the situation," he continued.

"It highlighted some of the stuff maybe too much and then put pressure on the next situation. It already just felt a little bit intense.

"Everyone should probably just take a step back and obviously we’re all assigned roles, that person’s there for a reason, let them do it.

"At times there was a lot of interference which I think probably just made it more messy than it should have been. Less interference just in general and probably there’s less pressure."

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