FIA president announces secret plan for Michael Masi after race director is sacked
Mercedes boss hopes ‘robbed’ Lewis Hamilton will continue racing
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FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem confirmed on Thursday that Michael Masi will be replaced as race director for the new season. But the 44-year-old will not be completely dismissed by the FIA going forward.
Masi’s position as race director appeared to be untenable following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
His improvisations of the Safety Car rules, which pushed Max Verstappen on the back of Lewis Hamilton for the final lap, caused uproar at Mercedes and among F1 fans watching all over the world.
Masi came under heavy criticism in the aftermath with reports suggesting that both Mercedes and Hamilton wanted to see Masi replaced.
An announcement was expected at the F1 Commission earlier this week, but the FIA decided to postpone their decision.
JUST IN: Michael Masi sacked by FIA with two new race directors appointed
Now it’s been confirmed that Masi has lost his role as race director by Ben Sulayem.
He said in a statement: “I would like to inform you that a new race management team will be put in place starting in Barcelona for the test session.
“Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas will act alternatively as Race Director, assisted by Herbie Blash as permanent senior advisor.”
Many pundits and former drivers have suggested that two people were required to take on the role of race director going forward.
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Freitas is a veteran in the world of motorsport having held the position of race director at Le Mans and WEC among others.
Wittich, meanwhile, was the race director for DTM last year but has experience in various other race series.
But Masi will not lose his position at the FIA in it’s entirety, according to Ben Sulayem.
The FIA president added: “Michael Masi, who accomplished a very challenging job for three years as Formula 1 race director following Charlie Whiting, will be offered a new position within the FIA.”
- It’s not yet clear what that “new position” will be, but he could be offered the position of race director in other racing series.
It was back in 2018 when Masi moved from his role at Rally Australia to join the FIA as deputy race director for Formula Two and Formula Three.
Masi was also an understudy to Charlie Whiting before the legendary F1 figure’s sudden death thrust the Australian to fill the position in 2019.
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