Toto Wolff makes feelings clear on “idiot” Michael Masi after hint at F1 return

The decision to allow Michael Masi to rejoin Formula 1 was made by FIA President Mohammed ben Sulayem, which is unlikely to sit well with Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff.

In response to rumors that former Formula 1 race director Michael Masi might rejoin the sport, Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff called Masi a “idiot.”

Masi left his role following controversy at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which saw Max Verstappen pip Lewis Hamilton to the world title after the Australian made a major blunder. With Hamilton leading the race and set to win a record eighth world title, Nicholas Latifi crashed and a safety car was deployed.

Masi initially told lapped drivers they could not overtake the safety car, but later changed his mind which allowed Verstappen to catch up with Hamilton and overtake him. The incident saw Verstappen win his first world title and the FIA later admitted Masi had made a “human error” that affected the result.

Masi ultimately left his role with the FIA, but the governing body’s president Mohammed ben Sulayem, who took charge a week after the controversy, has opened the door for him to return.

“I always apologise, but I cannot apologise for something which was done before my time,” Ben Sulayem told the Press Association. “Okay, I will do the apology, but I will bring Michael Masi again.

“Do you think that is right? The poor guy is a person who has been attacked and abused. Michael Masi went through hell. Hell! And if I see there is an opportunity that the FIA needs, and Michael Masi is the right person, I will bring him.”

However, Wolff would not be happy if Masi was ever brought back into the fold, having recently branded him an “idiot who made the wrong decision”. Reflecting on the safety car incident, Wolff told motorsport.com : “[There were] brutal scars. Incredible scars and we will never get over them, in a way.

“They became scars, and there are moments when you think, ‘how could that happen?’ We know how it happened. But I don’t want to waste a minute [thinking] about the reasons, because that would give the guy [Masi] too much credit. He’s just an idiot who made the wrong decision.”

Wolff has repeatedly laid into Masi since that race, claiming last year he was “disrespectful” towards drivers and “immune to any feedback”. He said: “You hear from the drivers and how the drivers’ briefings were conducted [by Masi] and some of the guys said it was almost disrespectful how he treated some of them.

“He simply wasn’t sensitive to criticism, and he still hasn’t acknowledged that he made a mistake. He was a liability to the sport because everyone was talking about Abu Dhabi and the race director, and a race director should be someone who does their job and ensures that the race is conducted in compliance with the rules, not someone who is the subject of conversation.”