The 2021 season ended with a rather contentious last-lap decision by then race director Michael Masi that affected the outcome of the championship battles.

Since then Masi has been removed from his role - now shared between Niels Wittich and Edoardo Freitas -and the Fia has announced the development of a software to "automate the communication of the list of cars that must unlap themselves," as it’s stated in the report that was released last month.

Nonetheless, it is still a rather sensitive topic for Mercedes, as it appears from Toto Wolff’s words.

"It is quite interesting because I had lunch with him on the Wednesday before the race, and I said to him that 'I really want to tell you, without patronising you, that you need to take criticism on board and develop from there. Lewis does it every day, but you are a guy who always seems to know better'," he told the PA news agency.

"It wasn't about influencing him but really giving my honest feedback that he shouldn't block outside opinion as simply being wrong.”

An attitude that was experienced by the drivers as well, says Wolff.

"You hear from the drivers and how the drivers' briefings were conducted [by Masi] and some of the guys said it was almost disrespectful how he treated some of them.”

"He was just immune to any feedback and even today he has not properly reflected that he did something wrong,” he continued.

A way of handling things that certainly didn’t do any good to Formula 1, argues the Team Principal.

"He was a liability for the sport because everybody kept talking about Abu Dhabi and the race director, and the race director should not be somebody that people talk about, but someone who does the job and makes sure the race is run according to the regulations."