“But for me, it wasn’t a good decision. That’s my opinion, and everyone is free to debate it—and we’ll keep doing that until we all stop.”
– Danny Sullivan
‘A mistake by the race director’
“That’s why he let five cars through, which basically gave Max a chance. Well, according to the rules he should have let all the lapped cars through. But if they had done that, they wouldn’t have been able to finish the race. They would have had to finish under a yellow flag because the other lapped cars were further back in the field.”
Michael Masi – Photo: RacePictures
“So he let those five by and put Max right behind Lewis. Max had pitted for fresh tires—Lewis hadn’t—he was on qualifying tires, on the red compound. Lewis’ tires had done 44 laps. There was nothing else that could happen except that he would pass him at that point. With that decision, he [Masi] basically gifted him the world championship.”
Sullivan says he is a Verstappen fan
Sullivan disagrees with Masi’s decision, but also defends the Australian. “These guys travel nonstop, they’re constantly under pressure from teams, from everyone. There’s all sorts of stuff going on. A lot of pressure, it’s the last five minutes of the season.”
The American also says: “If you’re a Max fan—and I am a Max fan, don’t get me wrong—but if I’m Dutch and lean more toward Max, I would say: ‘but that was the decision.’ And it was, Max did nothing wrong.”
“But for me it wasn’t a good decision. That’s my opinion, and everyone is free to debate it—and we’ll keep doing that until we all stop.”