Masi returns to F1 paddock but Hamilton ‘focused on the future’

Lewis Hamilton says he has no plans to meet with former F1 race director Michael Masi who returned to the F1 paddock on Thursday in Melbourne.

Masi is present at Albert Park in his capacity as chairman of the V8 Supercars Commission, with the Aussie series figuring on F1’s support bill this weekend.

The former FIA race director left his role with F1 and the governing body in the wake of his management of Grand Prix racing’s season-finale in Abu Dhabi in 2021.

In the closing stages of the event, during a late safety car period, Masi overruled F1’s sporting rules to allow for a one-lap shoot-out between race leader Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

However, thanks to his fresher tyres, the Red Bull charger made minced meat of his rival and stormed through to claim the win and his first world title, much to Hamilton and Mercedes’ ire, and to the dismay of many F1 fans.

Asked on Thursday in Melbourne if he planned to speak to Masi, Hamilton said: “I don’t. I am just focused on my future. I am focused on trying to get back to winning. There is nothing to say."

The FIA's investigation into the dramatic proceedings at Yas Marina led to Masi's ousting as F1's race director and ultimately to his departure last year from the governing body.

• Read also: Hamilton hoping gap to Red Bull 'isn't a second' in Melbourne

But the aftermath of the events that took place in December 2021 and the backlash they generated were difficult to bear on a personal level for the Aussie.

"There were some dark days," Masi said in an interview last summer with The Daily Telegraph.

"And absolutely, I felt like I was the most hated man in the world. I got death threats. People saying, they were going to come after me and my family.

"I still remember walking down the street in London a day or two later. I thought I was OK until I started looking over my shoulder.

"I was looking at people wondering if they were going to get me."

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