Michael Masi’s one decision made it look like FIA was ‘favouring Max Verstappen’

F1 race director Michael Masi made one decision which made it look like the FIA was “favouring Max Verstappen” at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it has been claimed. Pundit Karun Chandhok thinks Masi made an “error” by just selecting five cars between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen to un-lap themselves under the safety car at the end of the race. Instead, he suggests leaving the lapped cars out would have been a “fairer solution” and “very exciting” for the fans.

Speaking to Express Sport, he said: “What Michael [Masi] should have done was leave the lapped cars in between there.

“What ended up happening was by selecting the five cars between Lewis and Max made it look very much as if it was favouring Max, which obviously it ended up favouring Max.

“For me that was the error he made.

“You could go back and say when the crash happened he should have done a red flag.

READ MORE: FIA confirm Masi may be sacked after Hamilton and Mercedes complaints

“He would have passed the other two before turn six, seven and then by that stage Lewis would have pulled out two seconds maybe.

“Max would have had a tyre delta of two seconds for the second half of the lap.

“He would have probably caught Lewis at the last corner and it would have been an incredibly exciting finish.

He was able to overtake Hamilton by turn five on the final lap to claim his first world title.

However, the FIA is conducting an investigation into the events of the final lap with the report scheduled to be released on February 3.

Last month, it was reported Mercedes dropped their appeal over the result of the race after agreeing a ‘quid pro quo’ that would see Masi dropped as race director.

The Silver Arrows have denied the suggestions.

Peter Bayer, the new FIA head of F1, has also hinted there was a “possibility” Masi could be replaced.

He said: “Michael did a super job in many ways. We told him that.

“But also that there is a possibility there could be a new race director.”