Michael Masi has been removed from his position as Formula One race director during its review of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale.
Masi will be offered a new role within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said Niels Wittich, former DTM race director, and Eduardo Freitas, WEC race director, will act alternatively as the race director. They will be assisted by Herbie Blash as the permanent senior advisor.
Sulayem also announced a Virtual Race Control Room, and the direct radio connection between teams and the race director will be removed. The unlapping procedure behind the safety car will be assessed as well and presented to the Formula One Commission before the 2022 season begins in Bahrain.
“It will still be possible to ask questions to the race director, according to a well-defined and non-intrusive process,” Sulayem said in the announcement.
This stems from the FIA's review of the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale, which resulted in Max Verstappen not only winning but also being dubbed world champion.
A late safety car came out for a Nicholas Latifi crash with just a few laps to go. Red Bull brought in Verstappen to switch to soft tires, but Lewis Hamilton had to stay out on his hard tires to keep the lead. Due to lapped cars, there were five cars between first-place Hamilton and second-place Verstappen. Race officials initially decided those lapped cars could not overtake the safety car.
Red Bull manager Christian Horner asked Masi over radio about the situation: “Why aren’t we getting these cars out of the way? We only need one racing lap.”
After the exchange, in a surprising and controversial move, Masi decided on lap 57 of 58 to allow those five cars to overtake the safety car. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff yelled over the race radio to Masi about the decision, as it placed Verstappen right on Hamilton's tail for a one-lap mad dash to the finish.
Wolff: “You need to reinstate the lap [57] … That’s not right."
Masi: “Toto, It’s called a motor race, OK?”
Wolff: “Sorry?”
Masi: “We went car racing.”
Not all of the lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves, creating even more confusion among the drivers. Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher were three other lapped drivers, and the first two—Ricciardo and Stroll—were in-between Verstappen in second-place, and Carlos Sainz in third. Ricciardo later said, per the unbroadcasted team radio: “I'm glad I'm not a part of that—whatever just happened. It seemed pretty f----- up.”
Formula One stewards eventually dismissed both of Mercedes’ protests concerning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the controversial restart.
