Hamilton slates "inaccurate" Masi rumour

Mercedes

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Hamilton slates "inaccurate" Masi rumour

Hamilton was said to have been left 'astonished' by Masi's potential F1 return

Sam Hall

Friday 20 May 2022 13:25

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Lewis Hamilton has denied reports he was left 'astonished' by the potential return of former F1 race director Michael Masi.

In a recent interview, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem expressed a desire to increase the number of race directors from two to "a minimum of three" in the near future.

Despite conceding the events of last year's controversial Abu Dhabi season finale were the result of human error on Masi's part, Ben Sulayem claimed to be "open to everything," including the Australian's return.

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Reports soon after claimed Hamilton was 'astonished' by this development, with the seven-time champion said to have been 'stunned into making an urgent phone call' to the FIA.

But asked ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix if it would be 'acceptable' for Masi to return to the sport, Hamilton said: "I only heard of that story a couple of days ago and I haven't spoken to anyone [about it].

"Particularly, I haven't done an interview with that newspaper for at least 10 years.

"It's inaccurate but I don't have a particular feeling about it. I've not given it any thought.

"I don't know what Mohammed has said. I don't know his story, what his agenda is."

Hamilton eager to measure Mercedes progress

Ahead of this weekend's race, Hamilton is eager to get a measure of Mercedes' progress since the first days of pre-season testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya in February.

The W13 has proven problematic and difficult to handle over the first five races due primarily to the high level of porpoising caused by the dramatic change to the rules surrounding aerodynamics.

With updates on the car for this weekend that include a new floor body, rear corner, floor edge and front-wing endplate, Hamilton said: "It's a great test track here.

"The first time we drove the car, we have the data from that and can remember the feeling we had from that at the same time as well.

"We did have bouncing back then also but it will be interesting to see the parallels and how much we have progressed since."

Asked as to his prospects for the weekend, Hamilton conceded: "Every time I arrive at a weekend, I'm hoping that the prospects are good.

"We're working as hard as we can as a team to progress and we have some upgrades."