“I think it is the right thing,” Williams boss Jost Capito supports FIA’s decision to appoint multiple race directors for the 2022 season

“I think it is the right thing,” Williams boss Jost Capito supports FIA’s decision to appoint multiple race directors for the 2022 season

Jost Capito

After the troublesome season of 2021, especially the finale in Abu Dhabi, FIA took some serious steps to fix the F1 race control. The governing body decided to conduct an in-depth analysis of the race and ex-race director Michael Masi‘s actions in Abu Dhabi GP of 2021 and came up with solutions, which have been welcomed so far by most of the team principals and drivers.

Adding to the list of support is the Williams boss, Jost Capito. Jost has applauded the FIA’s decision to appoint two alternating race directors- Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich. While few have argued that this won’t solve the problem of inconsistent decisions that were seen in the 2021 season, Jost argues, “I think it is the right thing to put the job of the race director on various shoulders. Before, it was not on one shoulder,” quoted by the GP Fans.

“It was Charlie [Whiting], it was Herbie [Blash] and they got some support and then it got put on one shoulder. So I think that now it is sorted and not on one shoulder and with Herbie coming back with all his experience, I think it is very much appreciated,” added while welcoming the veterans of the sport to the race control room.

FS Video

Jost Capito’s view of the new Virtual Race Control Room for race directors

Williams boss Jost Capito with team's drivers- Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon.
Williams boss Jost Capito with team’s drivers- Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon.

The Williams boss is late to the party to support the actions taken by the FIA. Earlier, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Ferrari boss Binotto also have applauded the actions that FIA has taken to ensure the blunderous calls of the 2021 season don’t happen again.

On FIA’s decision to add a Virtual Race Control Room, just like that of Football’s VAR, to assist race directors in making important calls during the race, Jost Capito said, “Let’s see how this additional video judging will work out. If it is done properly, it can help and last year saw how complex the race director’s situation is and how difficult it is to do the judgements.” While drawing the similarities between the virtual technologies of both the sports, Jost said, “You compare it to football, when they have the decision for a penalty or not, the game is interrupted. There is nothing happening. It is not a safety issue but in racing, it is very much about safety.”

“So the race director has to be very careful about the safety. That is the first thing he has to look at and when he has to take a decision, there are cars out on the track. It is not the players sitting around and having a drink, they are still running so it is much more complex,” added Capito.

Concluding his statement of support, Jost said, “So to put this on more shoulders, I think it is the right thing to do and I hope this system will get even more consistency and I think it is quite a big improvement. I think the process and the system has got better.”

With the correct measures in place, we hope to see more consistency in decisions made during the race. But, with two directors, although the responsibility is split in two, consistency across the season could prove to be a challenge. However, if communicated properly, both the directors with their experience could change the dynamic of the racing.

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