The fallout from last December’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix shows no signs of slowing down until a decision on the future of Michael Masi.

Speaking ahead of the launch of the MCL36, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo spoke about the Australian Race Director.

In hugely controversial circumstances, Norris was to unlap himself (along with four other drivers) as he was between race leader Lewis Hamilton and second place Max Verstappen before the Safety Car was brought in.

On Ricciardo’s side, he wasn’t allowed to unlap himself as he was behind Verstappen and not between the top 2 in the race and championship. The Australian had a birds eye view of the last lap action between Verstappen and Hamilton as they fought for the championship.

Asked about what happened in Abu Dhabi and Michael Masi’s future as Race Director, Norris said he “supports Michael” to stay in the role as he’s got many things right.

“It’s still a tough one to answer but I think the obvious thing that we all want is consistency,” said Norris.

“And when something is inconsistent like that weekend is when people get annoyed and frustrated.

“I think it’s still good that we have different stewards for different weekends because you don’t want that bias going in with anyone. So I think a lot, like 95% or 99% of things are good, we just want that consistency.

“You see us make mistakes as drivers, it’s easy for people to see that and it’s the same with them, right? It’s human to make mistakes.

“And if that was just something that happened in such a quick time then that’s the way it is.

“I support Michael and I think a lot of other things he did were great last season or the past few seasons we’ve been working with him.

“A lot of things are good. It’s just ironing out these small things which can have a big impact.

“We have confidence that things are going in a good direction. And they are realising areas where they can improve or just make less mistakes, or whatever. From that side I have confidence.”

Daniel Ricciardo thinks that if Masi wants to stay as Race Director, he should keep the position.

The 2021 Italian GP winner believes one event shouldn’t overshadow everything else that Masi has done before.

“If Michael wants to stay then he should stay,” he said.

“I don’t think one event should be the picture of everything.

“I went home for Christmas and inevitably friends, family were like ‘oh that last race, what do you think?’

“So it was certainly mixed, I would say a little bit more were like ‘not sure how I felt about that’ but then others were like ‘well that was pretty entertaining last lap, title gets decided’.

“I had a front row seat for some reason, so I was like ‘is this really happening? This is nuts’.

“It was a moment in time for sure and not everyone is going to appreciate that moment in time. But I think lovers of the sport are still going to be lovers of the sport.”

2021 saw the introduction of radio broadcasts to viewers all around the world as we got to hear communications between Masi and team bosses.

As the season wore on, things got more and more heated as both Toto Wolff and Christian Horner regularly fought their corner and had heated discussions with Masi.

Ricciardo suggests that there is too much pressure on officials because of the extra scrutiny they face compared to the past.

“I feel there’s too much pressure on them to be honest,” he said.

“The sport, in general, has a lot more exposure now which is great in some elements but it also probably puts others under pressure who probably aren’t asking for that pressure or aren’t used to it or whatever.

“It’s hard to look back in time and think when was a race director or stewards or whichever so much in the media. It’s kind of quite unique and kind of unknown territory.

“So I don’t know if the word is unfair or what but I think that’s where it was already a bit of a ripple in the situation.

“It highlighted some of the stuff maybe too much and then put pressure on the next situation. It already just felt a little bit intense.

“Everyone should probably just take a step back and obviously we’re all assigned roles, that person’s there for a reason, let them do it.

“At times there was a lot of interference which I think probably just made it more messy than it should have been. Less interference just in general and probably there’s less pressure.”