F1 News
Discussion between Bottas, Hamilton and FIA flares up: "Personal insult"
One of the things that will be discussed for some time after the Grand Prix of Tuscany is that catastrophic restart, in which the rear of the field bumped into each other. Who was responsible for this? Afterwards that discussion flared up between the Mercedes drivers and the FIA.
"It's just... the FIA or FOM, I don't know who decides what happens to the Safety Cars, but they try to make the show better by turning off the lights [of the Safety Car] later," said Valtteri Bottas at the press conference after the race.
"I think our team reopened the discussion this morning before the race, saying it's a bit of a concern here, but basically they said they will continue to do it because it's better for the show. I think that was the answer."
Masi not happy with 'accusation' Bottas and Hamilton
Bottas received support from Lewis Hamilton, but those statements did not sit well with Michael Masi. "From the point of view of the FIA, safety always comes first. End of story. It's a personal insult to have someone say otherwise," says the Australian according to Motorsportweek.com.
Masi argues that the drivers also have their own responsibility and cites a restart from Formula 3 to reinforce his point of view. They were in a similar situation and with a much larger starting field it went well there.