The FIA is still in negotiations with Michael Masi

In December 2021, Jean Todt, the outgoing president of the FIA, announced the opening of an investigation into the controversial decisions of Michael Masi, whose conclusions were published this Saturday.

The report provided by the FIA states that former race director Michael Masi did not adhere to two articles of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations during the deployment of the safety car. However, the report also acknowledges the Australian’s good faith considering the limited information he had.

A new role for Michael Masi?

In the meantime, the new president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has taken strict measures against him. As a result, Michael Masi has been replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas as race directors on an alternating basis. However, Masi is still expected to have a role within the FIA, a role that has yet to be defined and on which the Emirati has expressed his views.

« We are grateful for the years he has spent with us, where he has been particularly involved,” declares Mohammed Ben Sulayem. “We are now negotiating with him to stay within the FIA. He is an important figure for us. We are negotiating another position for him within the FIA. Now we want to move forward, we are done with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the analysis. We have a new race in Bahrain, it’s the beginning of 2022,” explains the president of the FIA.

“A director cannot be alone,” asserts the Emirati. “That’s why we have brought back former members like Herbie, for example, to assist the race director. Furthermore, we also need to rotate people. If we’re talking about 23 races, human fatigue is a factor, as well as the numerous travels. It’s also a solution.”

Thus, Herbie Blash will be the chief advisor to Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas throughout the 2022 season. And that’s not all.

A new virtual control system

The new president of the federation has introduced a brand new control system in order to prevent the events of Abu Dhabi from happening again.

« The idea came to me in January when I went to visit some stables,” explains Ben Sulayem. « I said, “What is this?” and they explained to me that it was a virtual race control system. And I responded, “But why don’t we have one? Do we have one?” and they answered no. So, we invested in this system, which has been operational since yesterday. We don’t make false promises. We implement it.

So they will have another means of controlling the races. They will also have officials, in addition to support from the legal department. The virtual control of the races will not manage the race. The host country will do it itself. » explains Mohammed Ben Sulayem.