‘It was not good for the sport,’ McLaren boss wants ‘controversial’ Abu Dhabi GP topic to be closed in next FIA meeting

‘It was not good for the sport,’ McLaren boss wants ‘controversial’ Abu Dhabi GP topic to be closed in next FIA meeting

McLaren's Boss, Andreas Seidl

The Abu Dhabi GP of the 2021 season ended controversially and raised plenty of questions on the race control of Michael Masi. Following this, the newly elected FIA’s president, Mohammed bin Sulayem launched a detailed analysis of the said race.

FIA’s big meeting is due to be held on 14 February 2022, in which the findings of the detailed analysis of the Abu Dhabi GP will be presented to the committee. It is said to be a big day as it may decide Michael Masi’s future in F1 and put some water over the fire that has been ignited since the end of the 2021 season.

Another thing of concern is the inconsistency seen in the decisions made by the stewards last season. And as the 2022 season approaches near, McLaren’s boss, Andreas Seidl, hopes to put all these issues behind resolved and look forwards towards a new and hopeful era about to begin in Barcelona with pre-season testing. Ahead of McLaren’s launch of MCL36, he shared his thoughts.

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What does the McLaren boss want FIA to do?

McLaren's CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andreas Seidl
McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andreas Seidl

Seidl does believe that whatever happened during the Abu Dhabi GP was controversial and “was not good for the sport.” He also didn’t comment on whether the call made by Michael Masi was correct or not. The boss also provided a few suggestions that the authorities might want to keep in mind.

“It’s important now to wait for Monday, and then, hopefully, we can close this topic with a good analysis from the FIA, with some good steps of how we can improve for the future. We need to invest time and energy on the team side, together with the FIA, to make sure we understand what happened throughout the season and see how we can help by making the regulations, for example, less complex,” remarked Andreas.

“By giving more support to the race director, by giving more support to the stewards to avoid these controversies, to also avoid mistakes happening by simply making it easier in terms of policing or the application of the rules,” concluded Seidl.

The investigative report will be presented on 14 February 2022 at the meeting of the F1 Commission and later in the WMSC meeting on 18 March 2022, after a discussion with all the F1 drivers. That’s when it is believed that the whole saga might come to an end.

ALSO READ: ‘There was a lot of interference that made it messy,’ Daniel Ricciardo believes Michael Masi was under too much pressure at 2021 Abu Dhabi GP