The documents that Toto Wolff apparently emailed to the FIA's Race Director Michael Masi after Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided at Silverstone were never official, according to reports. After the collision on the opening lap, the Mercedes team boss could be heard contacting Masi on the radio asking whether he had read his email, which apparently contained diagrams of how a corner can be attacked or defended according to the rules. These diagrams seemed to indicate that Mercedes felt that Hamilton had the right to the corner at which he and Verstappen collided. However, it's turned out that the documents were not official in any way. According to some investigatory work from Motorsport-Total, the documents were drawn up during the height of the Nico Rosberg/Lewis Hamilton battle at Mercedes. The team wanted guidelines on how wheel-to-wheel racing would be judged by the FIA, and approached the governing body for guidance. By way of reply, Mercedes apparently received the document that they forwarded to Masi at Silverstone. The document is not an official FIA publication or guide, rather an informal letter of advice. The document may have been sent to Mercedes by Charlie Whiting, Masi's predecessor at Race Control. Whiting died in 2019, just ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. "I don't know which document you're talking about that the FIA sent out to teams," Masi told media, including RacingNews365.com , at Silverstone. "Because there's been no document, no. Certainly hasn't been to my knowledge. And it's not something that we've ever provided." The document appears to be a case of 'miscommunication' as a result, with Mercedes assuming the document as official, while Masi had no awareness of such a document, given that it was never issued by the FIA.
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