FIA confirm Michael Masi removed as race director

Mr Jack

Mr Jack

Mr Jack

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FIA confirm Masi removed as Race Director, new Virtual refereeing room:


Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich will alternate as Race Directors. Masi will move to a new position.
 
Glad Masi's gone, however I have some concerns over the new race directors.

Firstly, Niels Wittich was in charge of the absolute **** show at the last round of DTM, so that really doesn't bode too well. Secondly, having two separate race directors is just asking for inconsistency between races.

Freitas I do rate highly, though. His stewardship of the WEC has been excellent for many years.
 
Good!

This is also good, we need Herbie:-

"Freitas and Wittich will be assisted by F1 veteran Herbie Blash, who was the deputy race director under former FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting."
 
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GravyMonster said:
Firstly, Niels Wittich was in charge of the absolute **** show at the last round of DTM, so that really doesn't bode too well.
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None of that was down to Wittich, though, and the idea that the RD should be responsible for that rather that for fairly applying the rules is the problem with Masi.

Secondly, having two separate race directors is just asking for inconsistency between races.
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The RD shouldn't be doing that much that makes things consistent or not and the new virtual group should more than make up for it. Meanwhile, splitting the role should make it more manageable which will help with the level of stress that I think led to Masi's blunder.
 
Mr Jack said:
Meanwhile, splitting the role should make it more manageable which will help with the level of stress that I think led to Masi's blunder.
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Removing the ability for team personnel to call up the race director would be better for that...
 
"Freitas and Wittich will be assisted by F1 veteran Herbie Blash, who was the deputy race director under former FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting."
 
JRS said:
Removing the ability for team personnel to call up the race director would be better for that...
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Well, they're also doing that. But the Race Directory has a lot of other work outside of the race weekend. Masi, for example, had to visit each of the new tracks before the race weekend and had the same crazy, bloated, continent hopping schedule as the teams to work all that around. The new approach allows better balancing of their workloads.
 
Locky said:
He fixed the Race and broke the Rules, this was for all to see and only idiots think otherwise..
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Masi f'd up no doubt, and I fully welcome his removal. However, I don't believe he was trying to fix the race result. He just didn't want to finish under yellows and chose to bin the rule book to achieve that.
 
So why get rid of him if the last race was run correctly and nothing went wrong?

If it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck....
 
Correct decision, although when I read that two men will alternate the role I rolled my eyes.

FIA - bringing you inconsistency, consistently.
 
I doubt this eliminates the burning sense of injustice Hamilton will no doubt feel after having the title stolen from him. Hopefully it will at least keep him in the sport though.

Fingers crossed this leads to more consistent race direction in line with the actual rules in the handbook.
 
EVH said:
Correct decision, although when I read that two men will alternate the role I rolled my eyes.

FIA - bringing you inconsistency, consistently.
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Quite right. I'd have thought they'd be better working as a team. But hey - at least it's entertaining.
 
One of the really good things here is that Herbie Blash will be assisting again.
 
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