FIA to negotiate with Red Bull: 'Wouldn't call it a deal'
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Michael Masi has explained the negotiations with Red Bull Racing about the starting position of Max Verstappen after the first restart. The Red Bull driver made a mistake and took the lead in an illegal way. Verstappen would eventually start from P3, but Masi does not want to call it a deal from the FIA for the Austrian racing team.
Masi on Red Bull offer
"I wouldn’t call it a deal as from a race director’s perspective I had no authority to actually instruct the teams to do anything in that situation," Masi said in a conversation with The Race and others. So how does the FIA chief look back at the situation? "I can give them an offer and the ability to do that but the choice is theirs."
The 42-year-old Australian reported to Red Bull Racing if they turned down this offer, the situation would be forwarded to the stewards."The stewards are obviously empowered to impose penalties but I can give them my perspective.“That’s why I offered them the ability to give that position up." Christian Horner already revealed on Sunday after the GP that the stewards would probably have punished Verstappen more severely.
Discussions happen more often
It all seemed to take a long time for the proposal to reach the Austrians, but Masi says that was because he first had to coordinate clearing the track for the second restart. Many international media outlets, by the way, find it quite extraordinary that the FIA made a proposal to Red Bull to give back the position, but according to Masi this is not very crazy.
"It’s very much a normal discussion that takes place. When I saw it happen at Turn 2, I immediately suggested to the stewards that I’m going to give the team the ability to give that place back. The red flag obviously ensued very quickly thereafter and that was obviously the priority before we got going again.“Being under a suspension, it was the ability to effectively correct that before we went racing again,” he concludes.