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'So-called new footage of Masi and Red Bull changes nothing at all'

10:41, 10 Feb 2022

byGPblog.com

Will Buxton has responded to the 'leaked footage' in which a conversation can be heard between Jonathan Wheatley and Michael Masi. According to the Formula One reporter, nothing new has come to light.

No new information

On Wednesday, word came out that new footage had surfaced that puts Masi in an even more oppressive situation. A conversation can be heard between Red Bull's team manager and the race director, in which Wheatley comes up with the proposal to only let a few cars in front and not wait for them to return completely.

As everyone knows, this also became the solution Masi chose, giving Max Verstappen one more lap to attack Lewis Hamilton. This decision caused a turnaround in the race and with it the outcome of the championship. That this decision was possibly made on the advice of Red Bull, caused a lot of commotion on Wednesday.

Verstappen did nothing wrong

According to Buxton, however, nothing has changed in the situation. The F1 reporter states that these so-called new images were already publicly available on F1's YouTube channel and were viewed by two million viewers. According to Buxton, the supposedly new information does not change the question that remains: 'Were the rules followed in Abu Dhabi?'

Should the answer be 'no' to that question, Buxton still believes that Verstappen will not lose his title. According to Buxton, Verstappen did nothing wrong, but the investigation by the FIA is important to bring pain points to the surface.

Will Buxton

@wbuxtonofficial

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The “new” video doing the rounds today really doesn’t change anything. Why? Because it and the supposed revelatory audio have been in the public domain since the week after the race on F1’s YouTube channel and watched almost 2 million times. youtu.be/77RXPgDr-24

9:34 PM · Feb 9, 2022

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Replying to @wbuxtonofficial

The question remains exactly the same as it ever was. Were the rules followed? Not precedent. Not convention. Did the rules allow it? If yes, then there follows the question of whether that was the intention of the rules and if not then how they should be rewritten.

9:34 PM · Feb 9, 2022

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Will Buxton

@wbuxtonofficial

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Replying to @wbuxtonofficial

If the answer to the initial question is no, then that creates another wealth of questions over how to proceed. But Verstappen won’t lose his crown. Nor should he. He did nothing wrong. This is why the FIA investigation matters. But what was shared today was already known.

9:34 PM · Feb 9, 2022

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Will Buxton

@wbuxtonofficial

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One thing I've been asking myself a lot over the last month is whether there'd have been as much of a furore over the final laps of AD had Lewis managed to take the lead back at T9. The debate should be about the application of the rules. But much of it seems rooted in the result

9:06 AM · Feb 10, 2022

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