WOKING, England — McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo mentioned F1 race director Michael Masi wants assist in his position to keep away from a repeat of the farcical end to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Masi’s future within the job is at present in query after he botched the end of the title decider between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton final 12 months. The race was settled by a one-lap dash, which noticed Verstappen go Hamilton to win the title, when the foundations have been incorrectly utilized.

An FIA investigation into how Masi’s determination making affected the end result remains to be ongoing.

On Thursday, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel defended Masi and mentioned he mustn’t lose his job on the idea of 1 mistake. Ricciardo mentioned Masi was in a lose-lose scenario in Abu Dhabi.

“It is sort of a bit like a referee — you’ll be able to’t win,” Ricciardo advised ESPN forward of McLaren’s 2022 automobile launch. “You are at all times going to have somebody in opposition to you, it is just a little bit like that.

“I’ve by no means sat via race management throughout a race so I do not know the way a lot is occurring. However I suppose in my head, attempting to grasp all of it, some assist might be a little bit of a easy resolution to attempt to assist out.”

Ricciardo mentioned he by no means realised how a lot work Masi takes on between races till bumping into his fellow Australian final 12 months.

“He was telling me his schedule, the place he is been and the place he is going, and the quantity of touring he is doing to venues earlier than we get there. Forwards and backwards, checking this and that. His schedule is nuts. That in itself, you have then bought fatigue and every little thing else…. Making massive selections is already fairly difficult and sophisticated. So most likely some help is the first step for that.”

Ricciardo’s teammate Lando Norris mentioned he hopes to see Masi proceed within the position into 2022 and past.

“He is been nice for lots of issues,” Norris advised ESPN. “He bought thrown in three years in the past and naturally, from my standpoint, he is achieved a greater job each season.

“It is most likely the primary time issues haven’t gone to plan. We at all times count on lots as drivers as we at all times need issues to be excellent so once they’re not, we’re gonna complain and do on.

“He is a pleasant man, he does what he can. It could be a disgrace to see him go however I am positive he is gonna stick round.”

On the end result of Abu Dhabi, Norris added: “Each deserved to win. Each did a particularly good job. I feel Max was a really worthy winner. On the day, Lewis did initially the higher job, however then how issues turned out…”