For the first time after the controversial ending of the 2021 Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi, the FIA has indicated through its recently appointed single-seater director Peter Bayer that there is the possibility of Michael Masi not continuing as Formula 1 race director this year.
As a senior official of the FIA, Michael Bayer is leading the governing body’s investigation into F1’s controversial title decider which took place at the Yas Marina circuit in the last round of the previous season, as Max Verstappen won the world title in a dramatic one-lap shootout, overtaking Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on the last lap to secure his first Formula 1 title.
Michael Masi was criticized for taking the decision to restart the race despite the fact that not all cars well allowed to unlap themselves. Instead, the race director gave permission only to those cars which were between Lewis Hamilton and his title rival Max Verstappen, which was the opportunity the Red Bull Racing driver needed: Lewis Hamilton, who was running on old Hard tyres, had no change againt Max Verstappen who capitalized on the safety car period to fit a new set of soft tyres.
Needles to say, Mercedes was not at all happy with the outcome of the events and Toto Wolff took aim at Michael Masi’s management of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, demanding the FIA to take action. Teams and drivers also voiced their frequent criticism of the stewards’ decisions during the previous season, pointing out a lack of consistency when it came to judging on-track incidents and applying sanctions.
Peter Bayer, the FIA’s former secretary general for motorsport, is heading the institution’s Abu Dhabi review process and admitted that Michael Masi could be removed of his duties
“Michael did a super job in many ways. We told him that,” he explained, in a recent interview for Austrian F1 reporter Gerhard Kuntschick – “But also, that there is a possibility there could be a new race director.”
Yesterday, BBC expert Andrew Benson informed that the FIA is looking to create a new structure for race control, one that presumably would see F1’s race director’s current responsibilities shared between several individuals, a plan confirmed by Bayer.
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“(We are looking at) dividing the various tasks of the race director, who is also sports director, safety and track delegate. That was simply too much. These roles are divided between several people. This reduces the burden on the race director.”
Bayer also suggested that the F1’s race control could rely on the support of a “mission control” unit based at the FIA’s headquarters in Geneva to help with its tasks, a remote solution similar to what F1 teams use to help engineer their race weekends.
Michael Bayer also confirmed that Formula 1 bosses will no longer have the chance to directly talk with the F1 race director during the Grand Prix: “The team managers will still be able to – they have to be able to ask questions,” Bayer said. “We want to build in a buffer with an employee who accepts these requests. In the future, the race director will be able to concentrate on his task and will no longer be distracted.”
Finally, changes to F1’s safety car procedure are also being devised, with Michael Bayer pointing to a possible variation on a system used in the US by NASCAR.
“If neutralisation is necessary in the last two laps of the race, the lap counting ends and the laps are added at the end of the safety car phase. This could cause a fuel problem in F1, which is why it is being looked at more closely. We also asked the teams if their requirement not to finish a race under safety car was still relevant, to which they all agreed.” – he concluded.
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