Michael Masiโs name will be forever remembered in Formula One folklore history after events at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ultimately changed the course of his professional life with him no longer the race director for F1 2022
In short, Masiโs decisions during the closing stages of the race turned out to be season-defining ones that cost him his position as F1โs race director. Needless to say, the news would have been hard to take for the Australian but not necessarily a surprise given how many prominent figures in F1 had been calling for his head during the off-season.
A Storm Was Brewing Over Christmas Preceding Michael Masi Being Removed As The F1 2022 Race Director
In all likelihood, Masi probably suspected that the ax would fall when he took into account how much pressure the FIA was under and, in particular, from the Mercedes team. Leading the campaign against Masi were Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton who lobbied hard behind the scenes for the 44-year-oldโs removal before the beginning of the new season owing to his actions in Abu Dhabi.
That extraordinary final lap of the 2021 title race in full ๐ฎ#AbuDhabiGP ๐ฆ๐ช #F1 pic.twitter.com/kknTMDfpAF
โ Formula 1 (@F1) December 12, 2021
Hamilton even went to ground for a few months as his social media channels fell silent which increased speculation about whether he was waiting for the FIAโs decision before retiring or committing his future to the sport for another season.
During this time, F1 enthusiasts would have figured that the sharks had begun circling around Masi since it was, in effect, a stand-off between the sportโs biggest name and the supposedly disgraced race director. There could, in reality, only be one winner. Ultimately, this led to the expected removal of Masi and set a precedent that F1 may come to regret sooner rather than later.
Masi made mistakes
Itโs worth pointing out that Masi wasnโt entirely blameless over the course of the 2021 F1 season that Max Verstappen would eventually go on to win. Indeed, the Australian lost control of the championship title race on more than a few occasions which subsequently infuriated both Red Bull and Mercedes.
You only need to cast your mind back to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December and the somewhat dubious ten-second penalty handed to Verstappen to remember that Christian Horner had been as outspoken as Mercedes when the rub of the green went against his team.
BREAKING! Michael Masi has been replaced as F1 race director for the 2022 season, the FIA has confirmed. pic.twitter.com/JgQ0oGkdKp
โ Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) February 17, 2022
With this in mind and in the interest of complete fairness, you have to say that Masi made mistakes but the reasons for him doing werenโt down to incompetence but rather a lack of support. This could have been solved over the off-season as indeed it now has been with the FIA sharing race director duties between Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich. Furthermore, Herbie Blash will now also assume a permanent senior advisor role.
In essence, you can only applaud this proactive approach to making sure that big mistakes arenโt made, but in the same breath, you can’t help but wonder why Masi wasn’t provided with this support instead of being completely removed.
It was an undeniably harsh decision that was designed to appease the formidable F1 team of Mercedes-AMG Petronas and their star man Hamilton who has now committed to the new season in the wake of it. In fact, as of the 24th of February, Hamilton is predicted to win a record-breaking eighth title after being priced in the latest Betway sports betting F1 markets at just 5/4 to win the championship. It does seem like the 36-year-old is ready to let bygones be bygones now that he has got his way and ominously, the poster boy for the sports brand Puma looks set to pounce on his rivals this season after agreeing to take up his Mercedes seat.
The FIA are opening themselves up to be held to ransom
Whichever way you look at it, it doesnโt feel right that it has come to this and the FIA should be strong enough not to be bullied into pandering to the needs of teams and individuals. Of course, a restructuring of sorts was needed but now that Masi has been thrown under the bus, the FIA should prepare for more unofficial strikes down the line from their teams and drivers when they feel aggrieved.
Iโve been gone. Now Iโm back! pic.twitter.com/Y8i0cgJXZq
โ Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) February 5, 2022
Where indeed does it stop now that the powers that be of F1 have ended up on this slippery slope? If anything, the sportโs governing body now looks even weaker than before. When all is said and done, the sport of Formula One should be bigger than any individual or team and able to withstand the storms that inevitably blow their way.
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