The former Haas team boss estimates that Lewis Hamilton would have been an eight-time world champion by now if Michael Masi hadn’t been racing director in 2021 and Charlie Whiting was alive.
The 2021 F1 season will go down in sporting history as a season of infamy, with drama on and off the track reaching its peak.
The on-track battle took a different turn as Hamilton and Max Verstappen battled for the title in 2021, with race director Michael Masi being a central figure in many of the decisions that season.
However, the team’s radio communication in the race between the race director and the team directors, with all the back and forth, was broadcast in the world.
All the dynamics have led to many cases of mismanagement of the race director during the battle title featuring Hamilton and Verstappen. All this led to the last race at Abu Dhabi 2021, where Michael Masi will restart the race with only one round on the left in questionable circumstances.
It supported Max Faston, ending with a championship decision and brought a lot of noise.
After the former Director of Race Charie Waters, Gantsteiner wrote in his book “Non-Renvillered” and that the director has lost responsibility since 2019.
In 2021, the team’s director Hamilton will be the world champion eight times today. He said:”Whatever loyalty you had to it (and yes, I agree it was great entertainment), from a rules perspective it was a bible shit show and whatever decision Charlie Whiting made to replace Michael Massi, it was there” would be far less controversy and embarrassment
He added:
“Oh my goodness. We all know what Charlie does. If he were in charge, Lewis would have been an eight-time world champion by now
Lewis Hamilton’s career has been in decline since 2021
Since 2021, Lewis Hamilton’s career has started to decline. With Mercedes unable to adapt to the regulation changes for 2022, the British driver has not challenged for the title since this season.
Even worse, Hamilton could not even win the race in the past two seasons, and was dominated by Verstappen and Red Bull.
The driver was successful in 2024 in the last season with Mercedes. He ended his two-year race drought and won the race at Silverstone. In 2025, Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari on a multi-year deal with the Italian team.
The British driver currently has seven world titles to his name and the next step in his career will be to join Ferrari in the hopes of making history with them.