Horner says he deliberately pressured Masi over Abu Dhabi 2021 restart

Christian Horner says he deliberately pressed race director Michael Masi to restart the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He nevertheless maintains Red Bull did nothing wrong in the finish that delivered the championship to Max Verstappen.

In his memoir *Drive*, Horner recalls urging Masi to resume racing and clear the lapped cars separating Verstappen from Lewis Hamilton. He writes: “I decided to apply some more pressure on race control.” He believed it would be impossible for Verstappen to pass all five lapped cars before reaching Hamilton in a single racing lap.

Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Horner argued that the restart decision was within Masi’s authority under the regulations, while acknowledging that allowing only the cars between the two contenders to unlap had not been done before.

Horner also said he became aware in 2021 that Toto Wolff was speaking directly to Masi, as radio exchanges with the race director began to be broadcast. He regarded that as pressure on the official and said he asked his team manager to put him in contact too.

Hamilton and Verstappen had arrived at the 2021 season finale level on points. A crash for Nicholas Latifi’s Williams brought out the safety car late in the race, with Hamilton leading and Verstappen on fresh tyres. Five lapped cars stood between them.

Masi allowed those five cars — and no others — to unlap themselves, then restarted the race with one lap remaining. Verstappen overtook Hamilton on his new tyres and secured the championship. Masi was replaced for the 2022 season.