HORNER: MERCEDES WERE ‘BULLYING’

RED BULL boss Christian Horner has upped the ante ahead of the new F1 season by accusing rivals Mercedes of “bullying” behaviour that resulted in the exit of race director Michael Masi.

Horner (right) has questioned the FIA’s removal of Masi in the wake of the controversy over last year’s title decider. Hamilton was pipped to the drivers’ title by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after a safety-car period – under Masi’s instructions – late in the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Masi has been offered a new role at the FIA and replaced as race director by two people who will alternate in the job.

Team principle Horner said: “Was it right to fire him based on pressure that was placed on him from a rival team? That for me was wrong. That’s tantamount to bullying. He had not had any backing. That he’d been hung out to dry and that there was this concerted campaign that was very passive-aggressively focused against him.

“I will always stand up for someone who is being bullied.”

Horner’s remarks are a reference to Mercedes with British driver Hamilton refusing to commit to returning this season until he had seen the results of the FIA’s inquiry into the race in

Abu Dhabi. He added: “Yes, Michael did make mistakes and it was frustrating, but you have to look at the role that he was in and the tools that he had at his disposal.

“You can’t just place the blame on Michael. It’s unfair to do that.

“We were on the receiving end of many of Michael’s errors,” Horner added. “But he is in a high-pressure role in a high-pressure sport.”