FIA’s Secretary-General Peter Bayer on Micheal Masi’s prospects as Race Director for the 2022 F1 season
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Micheal Masi
Peter Bayer the FIA’s Secretary-General has recently given a few insights into the whole Micheal Masi saga and has admitted that Micheal Masi’s position as Race Director for the 2022 formula1 season could be under threat.
It has been stated in MOTORSPORT TOTAL that the sudden World Motor Sports Council’s meeting that is taking place on 3rd February has led to wild speculations regarding Micheal Masi’s future and the FIA has further fueled the speculations by saying that the ongoing investigation into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is progressing at a faster pace than previously expected.
However, the World Motorsport Council has made it clear that the meeting is not going to revolve around Micheal Masi but around the “budget issues” resulting because of the transition from Jean Todt to Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s administration.
Peter bayer believes that Micheal Masi did a great job during 2021 F1 season
Micheal Masi the Formula1 Race Director was heavily criticized by the people because of his controversial decision-making during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and more so, because of what was at stake in the last race of the 2021 Formula1 season.
However, Peter Bayer has backed Micheal Masi for the 2021 season and has said “He did a great job.”
While addressing the press Bayer also said “We told him that, but also that there is a possibility that there will be a new race director. I can only make suggestions to the World Council and they will definitely include him.”
“He had several options in those seconds when he had to make a decision, all of which were in accordance with the regulations. He could have finished the race under the safety car or abandoned it. But Nicholas Latifi’s accident would not have justified that. Or he could have done what he did.”
In this context, Bayer has also said that the outcome of the race could have changed if Mercedes had followed through with their complaints but believes the outcome of the World Championship would not have changed since Max was in the lead in front of Abu Dhabi.
“I think the judges would have said it was different in the regulations. He made that decision, so we could just annul the result. But even then – if it had been annulled – Max Verstappen would have become world champion.”
When Bayer was stressed regarding the future workload of a Race Director he said “There will be a division of the tasks of the race director, who is also sports director, safety and track delegate.”
Peter Bayer on radio communications
Bayer while talking about the future of Formula1 has also said that “The team bosses will no longer be able to intervene on this channel.” This has come in wake of the heated radio communication that Micheal Masi had with Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff during the final stages of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
However, Bayer has said, “But the team managers can still intervene because they need to be able to ask questions.” In addition, a kind of “buffer” is planned in the form of an extra employee who will receive these inquiries: “In this way, the race director can concentrate on his task in the future and will no longer be distracted.”
Peter Bayer: crtitcism on social media often goes too far
Peter Bayer believes that today social media has become a toxic place to be in and while talking about Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the heat that Masi received, he said “And as a police officer, you rarely get any sympathy. What has become unbearable are the reactions on social media, which stop at nothing, as you saw with the death threats against Williams driver Latifi.”
“Michael doesn’t have an account, but the hostility in other channels really hit him. In our conversations, I assured him of the support of the association and let him know: We want to continue working with you, but I also need your understanding that we do that subject to investigate.”
Also Read: Mercedes chief strategist James Vowels all set to compete in the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)