Seidl: Happy with the way Masi deals with things

The 2021 F1 season ended in controversy related to the way Michal Masi handled the Safety Car period at a later stage of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, after which Max Verstappen snatched the win from Lewis Hamilton, overtaking him on the final lap of the race, the Dutchman winning his first F1 Drivers' Crown.

The narrative on that Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi has left a sour taste with many F1 stakeholders, with Masi being on the firing line.

McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl didn't go along with the flow and defended Masi. He was speaking to Motorsport.com, when he admitted that Masi's job was "tricky" suggesting it "wasn’t fair to judge Masi solely in the context of the intense battle" that went down this year.

"From our point of view without commenting now on what happened [in Abu Dhabi] we appreciate the open and transparent dialogue we had all year, and also in previous years with Michael," Seidl told Motorsport.

"And we were really happy also with the way how he is dealing with things, not just with us but in general, with all the teams in the paddock," he went on.

"So I think we need to be very careful that this intense battle for the championship, which was very intense on and off-track, that triggered obviously a lot of heated comments as well, is not giving the wrong picture also of the reality.

"Again from our point of view, we’re very happy with how Michael is dealing with us, he’s asking for our input, always has an open ear for improvements as well," the German revealed.

"That’s how I see it," the McLaren boss concluded.

Four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who has had his fair share of on/off track battles with Lewis Hamilton during his Ferrari days, also defended Masi and the stewards.

"I think... leave the stewards alone, it is tough enough as it is," he said to the media post Abu Dhabi.

"Ideally, we'd like more consistency, but there's also a human side," Vettel revealed. "It's probably difficult to get it 100 percent right.

"It has to be our target and we need to see what we can improve," the Aston Martin driver insisted.

"But I don't think it has been any better or any worse than the past," Vettel reflected, "with the exception of the fines for reprimands, in terms of cash.

"That's just unnecessary," he claimed, going on to say: "I think it looks stupid to ask for 10,000, 25,000, 50,000 (euros)...

"I would like to see the receipt for what happens with the money!" the German driver joked.

Mercedes protested the race results right after the race in Abu Dhabi, but their protests were rejected, to which they responded by lodging an intent to appeal.

However Mercedes announced on Thursday that they will not go through with the appeal process, as the FIA announced that they will be analyzing what happened in Abu Dhabi's season finale to "draw any lessons from the situation" that went down.

It remains to be seen what the future holds.