F1
Ben Sulayem announces an overhaul of the Race Direction, Masi replaced
Michael Masi is removed from his role as F1 Race Director at the FIA. © DPPI
While social networks were on fire for the new Ferrari F1-75, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the FIA, released a video in which he announced the measures taken following the investigation linked to the final laps of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The fate reserved for Michael Masi was highly anticipated.
The first announcement, and not the least, concerns Michael Masi. The Australian is ejected from his role at the head of the Race Direction of the Grand Prix of Formula 1 with immediate effect.
In his place, the FIA chose an alternation between Eduardo Freitas (Race Director of the World Endurance Championship, WEC) and Niels Wittitch (former Race Director of the Formula E then from DTM). They will be assisted by Herbie Blash as senior advisor. Michael Masi will benefit from another offer within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.
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Furthermore, radio communications between the teams and the Race Director are purely and simply banned. Christian Horner's requests (Red Bull) and Toto wolff (Mercedes) after the accident in the first round at Silverstone, in Abu Dhabi or even worse in Saudi Arabia will therefore no longer be necessary.
This measure aims to strengthen the independence of mind of the Race Direction, the teams tending to want to influence the decision-making of the stewards in their favor. “It will always be possible to ask questions to the Race Director, following a non-intrusive and well-defined process. »
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A remote race control unit will also be installed on each Grand Prix. This process, similar to VAR in football, will strengthen the quality of Race Direction's decisions, and therefore reduce the propensity for errors or misinterpretations.
« Using a real-time connection with the Race Direction office, the VRCR (Virtual Race Control Room) will help enforce the sporting regulations using the most modern technological tools. added Mohammed Ben Sulayem, appointed last December at the head of the International Automobile Federation.
In addition, the Safety Car procedure for overtaking latecomers will be reviewed by the F1 Sporting Committee and presented to the F1 Commission ahead of the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix (March 18-20). In Abu Dhabi, only some of the delays were able to escape from the Safety Car in order to allow the Red Bull to Max Verstappen to stick to the leader Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). The Dutchman overtook his rival in the last flying lap of the year.
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Medhi Casaurang
Passionate about the history of motorsport across all disciplines, I learned to read thanks to AUTOhebdo. At least that's what my parents tell everyone when they see my name inside!
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CYRIL DELAPORTE
17/02/2022 at 05:26 a.m.
In the FIA article, they say that team-race management communications are banned from TV broadcast only but that they still exist…. It's not quite the same!