The FIA has admitted for the first time that Michael Masi could be fired from his role as race director.
The Australian was heavily criticised for his handling of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last month when Lewis Hamilton was controversially denied a record eighth world title.
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, accused Masi of adopting a “freestyle reading of the rules” after he allowed a final lap-shootout shootout following a safety car period. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was on brand new tyres at the time, having just pitted, ended up passing Hamilton to claim his maiden world title.
Mercedes failed with two protests but decided against appealing the result after the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, agreed to conduct a “robust” review into what happened. There were also rumours, which were denied by both parties, of a “quid pro quo” deal with the FIA agreeing to remove Masi in exchange for Mercedes dropping their appeal.
The FIA has now admitted for the first time, however, that Masi could lose his job. Peter Bayer, newly appointed as the FIA’s head of F1, and the man charged with conducting the investigation into what happened, told Austrian journalist Gerhard Kuntschick: “Michael did a super job in many ways. We told him that.
“But also that there is a possibility there could be a new race director.”
That would appear to be stating the obvious given Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton are still furious, with the latter unwilling to commit to returning to the sport until he has seen what actions the FIA are prepared to take. They will expect Masi to leave at the very least.
The rest of Formula 1 expects the same. There is an exasperation behind the scenes at the length of time it has taken the FIA to act.
They only began their investigation a couple of weeks ago after a break for Christmas, with “detailed analysis” to be announced at the F1 Commission meeting on Feb 14 and “final results” at the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Bahrain on March 18.
Privately, the expectation is that Masi – who was already under considerable pressure even before Abu Dhabi – will be asked to leave. The difficulty is knowing who to install in his place with very few qualified to do the job. Scott Elkins, the Formula E race director, is one name which has been mentioned. Whoever gets it, there will be a beefing up of the support structure around the race director as well as a restructure of the decision-making apparatus.
“(We are looking at) dividing the various tasks of the race director, who is also sports director, safety and track delegate,” Bayer admitted “That was simply too much. These roles are divided between several people. This reduces the burden on the race director.”
Bayer confirmed that a revision of the safety-car rules was also being considered.
And he said the FIA was considering setting up a “mission control” at its base in Geneva – similar to the remote strategy groups the F1 teams operate over race weekends – to support the race director.
He confirmed that team principals would no longer be able to talk directly to the race director, which was a feature of last season with Wolff and Red Bull’s Christian Horner both frequently seen lobbying on their drivers’ behalves.
