The safety car rules have been changed to make it impossible for a race to be conducted in the manner of the title decider.
The outcome of the world championship was a direct result of Masi's actions.
The governing body of the sport has made it clear that all cars must un-lap before a restart.
Last year's rules said that any lapped cars between the leaders should join the back of the field before a restart after a safety car.
Masi's decision to allow only the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to un-lap before a restart was at the center of the Abu Dhabi controversy.
It meant not all drivers in the field were treated the same, as the cars in front of Verstappen and Sainz were left in place.
McLaren's Lando Norris said the climax to the race had been made for TV, and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo said he was glad he wasn't part of it.
Hamilton was on his way to an eighth world title. After the restart, the Mercedes driver was left exposed on old tires and passed by Verstappen's Red Bull to win the title.
The Red Bull team used this as an argument that Masi had not made any mistakes and the result should stand. After Mercedes lodged an appeal after the race, the stewards used it to retro-fit a justification for Masi's actions.
The second rule has not changed.
The race must be restart at the end of the following lap after the message is relayed that cars may now overtake.
Masi started the race at the end of the lap on which he had ordered only a few cars to pass the leaders.
Had he followed the rules, the race would not have started and Hamilton would have been world champion.
Masi made mistakes in his handling of the Abu Dhabi race and the latest rule changes by the FIA are an admission of that.
The decision to launch an inquiry into what had happened and the admission that the controversy was tarnishing the image of F1 were the first things that came to mind.
After conducting the inquiry, Masi was removed as race director and replaced by two new officials, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich.
The support structure in race control was beefed up, including the establishment of a department similar to football's video assistant referee (VAR) and the return of F1 veteran Herbie Blash in an advisory role to the race directors.
The death of Blash on the eve of the season led to Masi being appointed race director.
A full report into the events of Abu Dhabi is expected to be published this weekend.
Masi did not follow the rules correctly.
There has been no explicit admission of that fact by the FIA.
If Mercedes had pursued their appeal, it would have been decided that it was different in the regulations, so we could just void the result.
Verstappen would have been the champion if the race had been declared void.
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