Beleaguered Formula One racing director Michael Masi has revealed he was bombarded with “vile” abuse and death threats after his stunning phone call that cost Lewis Hamilton an eighth world title.
The 44-year-old was sacked from his high-profile job as manager of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of the season last year and left the sport’s governing body FIA this month to return to Australia.
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He said The Daily Telegraph He feared for his life after the sequence of events that led to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen passing Hamilton to take another crown from the Mercedes star.
“There were some dark days,” Masi said in his first substantive interview since.
“And absolutely, I felt like I was the most hated man in the world. I’ve received death threats. People said they were after me and my family.
“I still remember walking down the street in London a day or two later. I thought I was fine until I started looking over my shoulder.
“I looked at people and wondered if they were going to get me.”
Masi called in the safety car for the final lap in Abu Dhabi and then controversially allowed the final marks between race director Hamilton and Verstappen to lap each other.
That led to a one-lap shootout between the Brit and the Dutchman, who, with fresh tires on his Red Bull car, had a huge advantage which he used to knock out Hamilton and secure the title.
Both Mercedes and Red Bull had pressured Masi to make decisions that would have helped their driver, with the former leftist outraged as they believed he was following their rivals’ suggestions.
They threatened legal action against Hamilton, who was so disillusioned that it was feared he was leaving the sport.
Masi cannot speak about the decision due to non-disclosure agreements with the FIA, the newspaper reported, but he said the months that followed were hellish.
“I was confronted with hundreds of messages,” he said.
“And they were shocking. Racist, abusive, hateful, they called me every name under the sun. And there were death threats.
“And they kept coming. Not only on my Facebook, but also on my LinkedIn, which aims to be a professional platform for businesses. It was the same kind of abuse.”
The Australian said he tried to ignore them but they affected his mental health.
“I didn’t go and speak to a professional. In hindsight, I probably should have,” he said, adding that the FIA was aware of the abuse, “but I think I downplayed it to everyone, including them.”
Masi decided two weeks ago to leave the FIA after three years as Formula 1 racing director and safety officer, having been appointed in 2019 following the sudden death of Charlie Whiting.
“It took me a while to process it all,” he said of the Abu Dhabi aftermath.
“But at the end of the day I figured it would be best for me to go home and be close to my support network.”
Since the Abu Dhabi race, the FIA has announced measures to relieve the race director and also changed the way of communicating with him.
— AFP