Mercedes And Ferrari To Have 'A Proper Race Director' In Abu Dhabi Fight Says Wolff

Monday, 20 November 2023 at 14:00

Updated at Monday, 20 November 2023 at 22:12

Toto Wolff had a dig at former F1 race director Michael Masi as he pointed out that the fight between Ferrari and Mercedes will have 'A Proper Race Director' in Abu Dhabi this year.

The 2021 F1 season saw a dramatic end when the Drivers' Championship was decided on the final lap of the final race.

It seemed like Lewis Hamilton would win the race by a comfortable margin, but then, Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams a few laps before the end of the race, and a safety car was deployed.

Back then, both Championship contender team principals from Mercedes and Red Bull were in close contact with the race director, Michael Masi, as they were trying to push their own agendas on whether the race should be resumed and how it should be resumed.

In the end, the decision went more in favor of the Red Bull team and Max Verstappen, who ended up snatching the title. Toto Wolff and Mercedes still disagree with the race director's decision until today.

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Going into the last race of the 2023 season, only four points separate Ferrari and Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship. Toto Wolff could not help but dig at Michael Msai as he told the media, according to RacingNews365:

"We're going there on pretty much equal points, we have a proper race director, so that should be fine. Then let's race, it's all down to the last weekend."

Scuderia Ferrari drivers showed very strong form during the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend as they finished one-two in qualification and then P2 and P6 in the race.

In comparison, Mercedes drivers finished P4 and P11 in qualifying and then P7 and P8 in the race. The Mercedes team principal added:

"[Ferrari] are very quick, they've done a good job, I think we could have been on par [in Las Vegas], but the result shows something different so let's race."

Being used to competing for the Championship, Wolff shared a similar opinion to Lewis Hamilton when he told the media the difference between P2 and P3 does not make too much difference to him.