Toto Wolff has branded Michael Masi, the disgraced race director who oversaw the 2021 F1 season, a "lunatic", claiming he ruined Lewis Hamilton's record.
The Mercedes team principal was unforgiving in his remarks, showing there is still little love lost over the controversial season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, almost four years on.
What transpired at the Yas Marina Circuit is well-trodden ground. It culminated in Max Verstappen winning the first of his four F1 drivers' championships.
It simultaneously denied Hamilton, who has since moved to Ferrari, from clinching a record eighth title in a heated showdown. Masi was ultimately relieved of his duties.
Under the intense pressure of the moment, and with Red Bull and Mercedes lobbying him for an outcome in their respective favour, Masi made a decision that changed the course of F1 history.
Wolff's exasperated words of "No Michael, no! That is so not right!" are etched into F1 folklore as the backdrop to one of the most contentious outcomes in the championship's 75 years.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the Austrian reflected on the closing stages of that infamous race: "I have not experienced the loss of control of a situation since I was a child.
"There is one lunatic who can basically destroy the record of the greatest champion of all time."
It is worth highlighting that an official report into the incident ruled that Masi made a "human error", but crucially that he operated in good faith.
Susie Wolff, F1 Academy managing director and wife of Toto, also shared her thoughts on the events that unfolded.
"It was disbelief," the former racing driver and Formula E team principal said. "That one person’s decision to interpret the rules, in a way that they had never been interpreted before, could have caused such an outcome.
"It sat so heavily with me, for a long time afterwards."
Most read
In this article
Join the conversation!