The Drag Reduction System, commonly known as DRS, was disables at the start of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to the wet conditions on track. But as the track dried up and teams decided to switch their tyres from intermediate or wet to slick tyres, race control made the decision to enable the system.

George Russell and Valtteri Bottas collided a couple of minutes after the DRS was enabled. The British driver opened his DRS in an attempt to overtake his rival on the approach to Tamburello while his car went sideways, this provoked a huge crash which led to a red flag and the race being stopped. Fortunately, both drivers were not injured in the accident,

After this, according to RaceFans.net, the Williams driver was questioning and asked the stewards if the DRS should have been enabled at the time of the crash, considering there were still some wet spots on track.

“We obviously have our own opinions, but equally, we both said it was a racing incident, and unfortunate,” he recounted.

“Probably in hindsight, given the conditions, given the circuit – that the straight is not straight – the DRS probably should not have been activated. I would not have [spun] if I was in the exact same position with DRS closed. So I highlighted that may be one for the future.”

Nevertheless, Masi denied the claim that the DRS was enabled too early. He pointed out that other drivers, like Lance Stroll, overtook others using it before the incident.

“It’s obviously something we were monitoring closely, looking at it,” said Masi. “To be fair there was a number of DRS overtakes that were completed successfully before and after.

“So no, I don’t think it was. I think looking at all of the footage, the track was all fine from our perspective and it was no issues on that end.”

After investigating the crash between Russell and Bottas, the stewards ruled it as a “racing accident” and both drivers were cleared of any guilt.