Australian F1 race director likely to stay in post despite Abu Dhabi finish

The future of Formula One race director Michael Masi remains uncertain after a meeting of the F1 Commission ended Monday without the sport’s governing body making a recommendation.

Masi was responsible for a series of late calls which resulted in Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beating Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton in last season’s controversial title decider in Abu Dhabi.

Race director Michael Masi.Credit:Getty

The Australian was at Monday’s highly anticipated meeting at Formula One’s offices in central London, as were Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, the team principals of Mercedes and Red Bull respectively. However, The Telegraph understands Masi’s future was not directly addressed.

Many senior figures in the sport believed over the winter that Masi’s position was untenable. However, following recent support from drivers such as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, some now think the Australian is more likely to stay than to leave, only with additional support around him.

The Telegraph has been told this could include the creation of a new remote “race hub” at the FIA similar to those operated by top F1 teams back at their headquarters during a race weekend.

The FIA’s new head of F1, Peter Bayer, and new president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, had been expected to present the findings of the FIA’s investigation into what happened in Abu Dhabi at Monday’s meeting, before making a series of proposals. However, the FIA instead released a statement in the wake of the meeting in which it provided an overview of everything that was discussed, with the events of Abu Dhabi wrapped up in two cursory sentences.

“The FIA president led detailed discussions of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix,” it read. “Feedback from the commission on matters raised will be incorporated into the president’s analysis and he will publicly present news of structural changes and action plan in the coming days.”

Ben Sulayem is expected to make his announcement later this week.

It is unclear how Mercedes and Hamilton might react should Masi stay in his post. They were furious when the Australian opted to allow only the lapped cars between Hamilton and second-placed Verstappen to unlap themselves following a late safety car, and then brought the safety car in with one lap of the race remaining when the Dutchman was on fresh rubber.

Hamilton was so angry he was even rumoured to be considering his future in the sport, although his team confirmed on Monday that the 37-year-old would continue this year with the No.44 race number.

Either way, Mercedes only agreed to drop their appeal on the condition that the FIA conducted a “robust” investigation into what happened and made unspecified “changes”.

One of those was expected to be Masi’s position. The situation is complicated, however, by the fact there are few obvious candidates to replace him. And while there is general agreement within the sport that Masi erred hugely in Abu Dhabi, there is sympathy, too, given the pressure he was under from both team principals. One of the investigation’s recommendations is expected to be that only team managers will now be able to speak directly to the race director in-race.

Any proposals that are announced by Ben Sulayem will still need to be formally approved by the World Motor Sport Council at its meeting before next month’s season opener in Bahrain.

The F1 commission meeting did provide some clarity over the number of “sprint” races which will take place this season.

On sprint race weekends qualifying takes place on a Friday, with a shortened sprint race on the Saturday, which then decides the order for Sunday’s main grand prix.

The plan had been to double the number of sprint events to six. However, a stand-off over financial issues has caused that idea to be abandoned.

Instead, a compromise plan has been agreed to hold three sprint races again at the Emilia Romagna, Austrian and Brazilian Grands Prix.

The points available for winning these races will be increased, with eight for the winner, seven for second and so on down to one point for eighth.

The Telegraph, London

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