Shop
Masi oversaw the bitter 2021 championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
The fight famously went to the wire in Abu Dhabi, where a controversial Safety Car call played a key role in the outcome of the race.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Wolff revealed he had offered support to Masi during the season.
“I really tried to speak with Michael and guide him throughout the year,” Wolff recounted.
“I tried to say: ‘Listen, I’ve been in the sport a long time, listen to the drivers, don’t be stubborn in your decision-making.’
“I tried that for the good of the sport and obviously for us as a team as to not be vulnerable to situations that could be totally detrimental, so in that sense, what happened is inexcusable.
“Now, you could say the empathy should make me realise how he feels.
“I realise how he feels and I know that is not good, but he could have thought about it all year and there were people, not only me, trying to support him in the right way.
“Sometimes you just have to admit that someone is just doing his own thing or making his own decisions, so I don’t care about it anymore.
“I mainly think about it because Lewis deserved to be the greatest of all-time with eight world championship titles.”
Toto Wolff labels Michael Masi ‘an utter pathological egomaniac’
By winning, Verstappen claimed his first title, while Hamilton remains tied with Michael Schumacher for the outright record with seven crowns.
Mercedes initially announced its intention to protest the result though withdrew that in the days that followed.
The incident was turning point for Formula 1, as it enjoyed a strong influx of new fans, which were left divided by the outcome – attributed to Masi’s handling of a late Safety Car for Nicholas Latifi.
Masi subsequently revealed that he faced threats off the back of the event with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem removing him from the position following an investigation into the matter which did not include testimony from the Australian.
Though Mercedes won the constructors’ championship, Wolff remains angry that Hamilton did not claim eighth drivers’ title.
“I felt angry, not depressed or sad, just angry that an individual was able to take away an eighth championship from the best driver in the world by a bad decision,” Wolff said.
“But you have to put it into context, there are dictators around the world and politicians that cause so much pain that it is in no way comparable to Lewis losing the eighth title or for us as a team.
“But the anger of that moment of a person, but even Lewis learned to manage his emotions very strongly and after a few days was in an okay space.
“It still goes with us because of the unfairness that happened on this particular day.”
Hamilton’s victory in this year’s British Grand Prix was his first since the 2021 title fight, and was followed up two events later when he inherited the Belgian Grand Prix once team-mate George Russell was disqualified.
From 353 starts, Hamilton has achieved 105 wins, marking him out as the most successful driver in F1 history.
The 39-year-old is set to leave Mercedes at the end of the year for Ferrari.
Masi, meanwhile, returned to Australia and has taken up a number of roles within the motorsport industry locally, including as a board member of Karting Australia, chair of the Supercars Commission. and part of the South Australian Motorsport Board.
