Christian Horner makes bombshell Michael Masi admission over Abu Dhabi 2021 F1 controversy

Christian Horner has revealed just what he said to Michael Masi during those fateful moments which preceded the dramatic conclusion of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It remains one of the most hotly-debated moments in F1 history - Red Bull star Max Verstappen passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the final race of the season, to deny him a record eighth world title.

It was Verstappen who became world champion, but even now the debate rages as to whether it should really have happened.

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Abu Dhabi 2021 controversy: As it happened

Hamilton was serenely on course to clinch the title when he led by a comfortable margin with just a handful of laps remaining - Verstappen, Horner and Red Bull needed a miracle. Then, all of a sudden came a glimmer of hope.

When Williams star Nicholas Latifi slammed into a wall, it brought out a Safety Car. Verstappen was now right behind Hamilton, and now on fresh tyres (he pitted but Hamilton could not without losing track position). But still there was one major obstacle - the FIA rulebook.

While Verstappen now was in prime position to overtake, he still needed race control and specifically Masi to make two crucial decisions (debated even today) which gave him the chance to claim an incredible victory.

'The regulations state', but that did not matter

Per F1's official website: "With the laps counting down while the car was cleared, allowing all lapped cars to overtake the Safety Car and get safely clear of the pack before a restart - a standard procedure in F1 - became less and less realistic, so the teams were told by race control that no cars would be allowed to un-lap themselves in order to ensure the race could resume.

"But with the track clear as the Safety Car-led pack started the penultimate lap, race control then decided to let selected cars - the five between Hamilton and Verstappen in first and second respectively - un-lap themselves.

"At this point, Mercedes thought they’d won the title, because the regulations state that after cars are allowed to overtake the Safety Car, the Safety Car will come in at the end of the following lap (i.e. at the end of the final lap, so there would be just one racing corner).

"Instead, race control decided to bring the Safety Car in immediately, to ensure the Grand Prix could finish with an entire racing lap."

So what did Horner say to Masi?

So what happened in the seconds and minutes between Latifi's crash and the fateful decisions made by then race director Masi?

We will never know the full extent of any conversations which took place, but we do now know what Red Bull team principal said, courtesy of his new memoir 'Drive'.

Horner admits he had gone in a split second from considering how he was going to lift his beaten driver and team after the chequered flag, to trying to fashion the unlikeliest of victories.

He remembered: "The cars crawled around the track. When Max returned from the pit lane, the field had bunched up, and five lapped cars separated him from Lewis.

"Shortly afterwards, as Latifi’s buckled Williams was removed from the track and the debris and shattered carbon fibre was cleared away, instructions arrived from race control. The cars dividing Max from Lewis would not have to unlap. My heart sank.

"That meant that Max would have to pass all five cars before getting to Lewis, which was impossible in one racing lap.

"The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and by extension an entire season, was being concluded in the most unsatisfying manner. I couldn’t understand the decision.

"The watching world wanted to see Max and Lewis go head to head in a title decider, not crawl to an underwhelming finish. Anything else was a disappointment."

It was now or never, a do or die moment, so Horner decided to get on the radio to Masi for one last roll of the dice.

'I decided to apply some pressure'

"I decided to apply some more pressure on race control. ‘Come on, Michael, we need to get this race going; why aren’t we getting these lapped cars out the way?’ I said.

"‘It’ll be such a shame to end everything under a safety. The lapped cars should unlap. Let’s race.’"

It was a desperate bid by Horner to give his driver one last chance to claim the title - and incredibly Masi's answer was in the affirmative. Not only would the cars separating Hamilton from Verstappen unlap themselves, but the race would also restart immediately.

Horner remembers: Shortly afterwards, the racing gods smiled down on Red Bull. Race control announced that the five cars separating Max from Lewis could indeed move away, leaving both drivers to go all-­out during one decisive final lap."

The rest of course is history with Verstappen's momentous pass early on that one final racing lap enough to claim the title. The anger from Mercedes (complete with those 'No Michael No' Toto Wolff memes) was massive and understandable.

Five years on, Abu Dhabi 2021 remains as divisive as ever. And while Horner's admission doesn't settle the debate, it offers another revealing glimpse into the pressure surrounding one of F1's most controversial moments.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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