Danny Sullivan, twice a Driver Steward during a Grand Prix in the 2021 season, believes that then-race director Michael Masi ‘in effect gifted’ the world title that year to Max Verstappen with his decision in the closing stages of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“But for me, it wasn’t a good decision. That’s my opinion, and everyone is free to debate it—and we’ll keep doing that until we all stop.”- Danny Sullivan
To this day, there is debate about the events in the final phase of the last Grand Prix of that historic season. Lewis Hamilton seemed on course to win the race—and with it his eighth title—until a crash by Latifi changed everything.
Once the debris from the Williams had been cleared, Masi decided to let only five cars unlap themselves past the race leader, which put Max Verstappen, on fresher tyres, directly behind Hamilton. In the final lap of the Grand Prix, it was easy for the Dutchman to pass Hamilton.
'A mistake by the race director'
Looking back on that day, Sullivan (75), also a former Formula 1 driver, told Epartrade: "The stewards never had to make a decision about those things. People were yelling at him that they didn’t want to finish under a yellow flag because it didn’t look good.”
"That’s why he let five cars through, which basically gave Max a chance. Well, according to the rules he should have let all the lapped cars through. But if they had done that, they wouldn’t have been able to finish the race. They would have had to finish under a yellow flag because the other lapped cars were further back in the field.”
"So he let those five by and put Max right behind Lewis. Max had pitted for fresh tires—Lewis hadn’t—he was on qualifying tires, on the red compound. Lewis’ tires had done 44 laps. There was nothing else that could happen except that he would pass him at that point. With that decision, he [Masi] basically gifted him the world championship."
Sullivan says he is a Verstappen fan
Sullivan disagrees with Masi’s decision, but also defends the Australian. “These guys travel nonstop, they’re constantly under pressure from teams, from everyone. There’s all sorts of stuff going on. A lot of pressure, it’s the last five minutes of the season.”
The American also says: “If you’re a Max fan—and I am a Max fan, don’t get me wrong—but if I’m Dutch and lean more toward Max, I would say: ‘but that was the decision.’ And it was, Max did nothing wrong.”
“But for me it wasn’t a good decision. That’s my opinion, and everyone is free to debate it—and we’ll keep doing that until we all stop.”
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