F1 journalist Will Buxton has explained why resurfaced Masi audio 'does not change anything'

Formula 1 journalist and presenter Will Buxton has lent his thoughts to the discussion surrounding resurfaced audio footage of a chat between Race Director Michael Masi and Red Bull Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley in the closing laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The end of the 2021 season caused quite the storm as Red Bull naturally pushed for one more flying lap of racing action, one that would give Max Verstappen the world championship on fresher tyres than Lewis Hamilton.

Indeed, they got their wish as the final lap ran under green conditions, prompting Toto Wolff to get on the radio himself to Michael Masi and let him know what he thought about the call being a wrong one.

The resurfaced footage, meanwhile, sees Wheatley asking Masi to just let some of the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen, and not those behind, go and that of course is what happened, leaving many to think Masi simply bowed to Red Bull’s wishes.

Under pressure, though, it’s safer to say Masi didn’t just side with one team but instead under the immense gravitas of the situation and with both teams naturally pushing for the best thing for their drivers, he appeared to make the wrong call.

Taking to his Twitter account, Buxton explained why the resurfaced footage changes nothing as the FIA were already aware of it much nearer the time post-race:

“The “new” video doing the rounds today really doesn’t change anything. Why? Because it and the supposed revelatory audio have been in the public domain since the week after the race on F1’s YouTube channel and watched almost 2 million times.

“The question remains exactly the same as it ever was. Were the rules followed? Not precedent. Not convention. Did the rules allow it? If yes, then there