The FiA – Formula One’s Governing body – has issued the obligatory wrist slap and done the least they could do in relation to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fiasco by removing Australian Michael Masi as Formula 1 race director – but has yet to adequately address the gigantic ramifications and results of Masi’s rule-defying actions from that race.
In that race, Masi failed to correctly apply the rules in a late safety car period that had a direct impact on the outcome of the F1 driver’s championship by allowing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to enjoy a distinct advantage over Mercedes’ seven-time F1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who was dominating the race and on his way to an eighth world title until Masi went rogue and single-handedly altered the parameters of the race.
Going forward into the 2022 F1 season, FiA president Mohammed ben Sulayem has announced that there will be two race directors sharing Masi’s former role – Eduardo Freitas [who formerly performed a similar role in the World Endurance Championship] and Niels Wittich [who did the same in the DTM German Touring Car Championship] and both will be assisted by F1 veteran deputy race director, Herbie Blash.
Masi, meanwhile, will be “offered a new position within the FIA”.
Meanwhile, with the FiA making Masi the predictable and deserved scapegoat, there is still no substantial action regarding the Masi-manipulated results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and without any FiA decision on those, the 2022 fate of Hamilton remains up in the air.
After Mercedes’ appeal of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was initially rejected Mercedes made an arrangement with the FiA to withhold further appeals and wait for the FiA inquiry but Hamilton indicated that he would not commit to an F1 return this season until he had seen how the FIA responded to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fiasco.
The FIA says a full report on the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fiasco will be released at the 2022 season-opening race in Bahrain on March 19, 2022 – but Hamilton is expected to issue his response to the FiA’s minimal actions at the Mercedes F1 car launch on Friday.