FIA confirm Michael Masi removed as race director

DeliciousStorage said:
The rules were already clear and black and white though, yet they still interpreted them differently.
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No because there was the line in the rules equivalent to
"anything to do with safety car is at race directors discretion"

That was how the FIA originally said Masi had done nothing wrong.

That needs to be removed, nothing at all should be at anyone's discretion.

Rules should be written where there is no room for manoeuvre.

If they had been, then we would never have had any issues.
 
Scam said:
If they did that wouldn't Max still have got the title due to number of wins? Not sure how I feel about that but it would have gone further (probably too far for the FIA) to admit the last race was a cluster f. That said, Hamilton 100% deserved the race win on the day, so to have it stripped would be harsh.
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Yes, but I’d have been happy for Max to have won it on count-back if they’d admitted that the last race was a complete farce.
 
Good

I was all for sticking to I'd not be watching if something didn't change.

Lewis was robbed clearly and that should have been the 8th, I was full on ****ed at the time and I'm still disappointed.

Having said that I'm hoping for other teams to be at the front and we have the likes of Ferrari, Mclaren and others fighting for the wins which will mean game over for the 8th by Lewis but it is what it is if that happens.

I'm a Lewis fan but I'm tired of the Merc show and I couldn't dislike Redbull more really.
 
EVH said:
Yes, but I’d have been happy for Max to have won it on count-back if they’d admitted that the last race was a complete farce.
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I would have been slightly happier, had Max won that way.
Think a lot of the season was a bit of a farce, not just one race.

Just hope with the changes, we will get better consistency in officiating, that will make it a much better year for me, no matter what the actual racing turns out to be like.
 
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At this point, the only person I'd be happy to see there is Eduardo. Having it alternating between him and DTM's Masi just means you can take people out in one race and then not in the next. Just 2021.2.
 
Ryan-3 said:
At this point, the only person I'd be happy to see there is Eduardo. Having it alternating between him and DTM's Masi just means you can take people out in one race and then not in the next. Just 2021.2.
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Not while you have Blash overseeing it all.

He will have to agree, for any penalty to be applied.

Also the VAR type review panel, who will also have to agree.

That is the way i understand it working.

No longer will it be down to one person's decision only, but a group effort.
 
What has happened is not fixable now. Even if Lewis is given it officially, it is tarnished and he won't want it to his name. If Max keeps his championship, it's tarnished. The difference is Max is deluded and supported by those who are also deluded into believing that he in fact deserved it. In interviews Max and Christian are just going to keep saying the same thing over and over, to try to condition themselves into believing that they really did deserve it. It will be along the lines of... "look, two fantastic drivers took it to the wire and either one could have come away with it. We're just happy it's Max" kind of thing. But deep down they know and will always know the truth, and that goes deep. Max has a laughing stock of a championship to his name. People think he's a **** but won't come out and say it because they want to protect their roles in the case of the pundits, and drivers don't want to burn potential future bridges with any possibility of working with Redbull.

F1 now shares similarities with football and the premier league. It's become so big and so money driven, that teams are willing to get an edge in any way possible. Just look at the premier league teams this year using fake covid illnesses to postpone their fixture pileups to suit. We have referees as inconsistent as ever and VAR which needs a lot of work. Too much needs fixing for it to be realistically addressed all in one reset. I wish someone would just come in and re-write the rulebook properly with no BS, but most rule changes are just done so gradually and are just implemented badly in both football and F1's case.
 
I think people would be happier if they addressed directly the core issues. I could name probably 20 things that need changing (I have in previous F1 race weekend threads) but the mains ones would be:

1: Driving standards and allowing Max to drive the way he has/does
2: Inconsistent penalties
3: Penalties which aren't fit for purpose and do not penalise properly (i.e. 5 second penalty added to race time has rarely changed a result)
4: Inconsistent application of the rules
5: Introducing a way of maintaining time gaps between competitors in the event of safety cars. Truly neutralizing a race always and never losing time gained by way of any "lottery" aspects.
6: Stop teams benefiting from red flags by being able to change tyres
7: No free pit stops ever. Pit stops only allowed during live racing

Numbers 5,6,7 are one and the same. Stop the lottery. Why do we accept a 70 lap race with super fine margins and tactics to be wiped out due to a safety car? We have the technology to facilitate always resuming live racing with actual time gaps maintained yet we chose not to. Luck is in all sports, but safety cars happen too often in F1 for us to keep accepting it, especially in this day and age where we are so safety conscious.
 
The entire thought of cars being bunched under the safety car is then the field is in one ‘lump’ so marshalls can works safely whilst everyone is the other side of the track.
Pit stops under the safety car was banned around mid-late noughties when refuelling was allowed, and it was a ten-sec stop go if you fell foul, which many people did as they’d run out fuel (Singapore ‘08 is classic)
 
I think the right decision in the grand scheme, his position was untenable, with lack of respect and trust of the teams, and unpredictable decisions.
Hopefully the new race direction team will work well. Great to see Herbie Blash back, I'm sure he has a bit of catching up to do, but his experience will be invaluable and his input will hold a lot of weight with the teams. I'm unfamiliar of Niels Wittich, however, Freitas direction of WEC has from what I've seen, always been firm and fair, a bit on the safe side, but direction by the rulebook, cant ask for more than that, WEC events always seen to be directed very well, very clear, with respect from the teams to any race control decision whether they agree or not. Thats what we need.

Also very happy to see Race control will not be televised and communication to the race director from the teams will be limited, again the right decision.
Jury is still out to see how the execution of the new setup will role out. However I do find the changes to be very very promising.
 
Wow. This has actually restored my faith somewhat in the sport.

I was genuinely not going to follow next season, but this has made me reconsider as it shows they realise that the last race was utterly farcical and ruined by Masi's decision making/made up rules.

His position was just untenable for me. The rule he made up on that last lap was just bonkers.
 
SpeedFreak said:
Yeah, agree. People said post race that in 20 years nobody will remember, but as far as most sensible fans are concerned Max hasn't won a Championship yet. Deep down I'm sure Max knows it too.
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I mean, he has won according to the history books, but it was gifted to him by the mental rulings of the race director.
 
cuke2u said:
He chose to keep to the agreement with all the teams not to finish a race under a safety car, that is a fact.

..
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Do you think any of the teams would have agreed to a scenario where only some of the cars get to unlap themselves for the sole benefit of only one driver to challenge for a position/the win?

Absolutely ****** not is the answer...


It's obviously an absurd rule because it means some competitors get a whole laps advantage against who they were racing against! It cannot be emphasised enough, just how stupid what Masi did was.
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I was 100% not going to watch this season. After today's events it's now it's 50/50. Ben Sulayem is showing signs of getting a grip on the issues, bit I'm still concerned the FIA are hiding the report. Some faith restored.

Sky need to sort their **** out though, or I'm cancelling.
 
Good decision, or really the only decision I guess... It further reinforces that asterisk next to Verstappens title.

Not sure it changes much for me though, I initially thought I wouldn't watch any but I'd already decided I'd watch some but probably not all. For example there's no way I'm sitting through the Monaco boredom anymore :p
 
Big LOL at you not believing me.

Have we met? Do you secretly know me? Are you my Dad who was all sorts of concerned when I really had no idea what he was talking about earlier in the week after he'd seen some car launches?

Anyway, whatever helps you sleep at night. :cry:
 
Entai said:
I would have been slightly happier, had Max won that way.
Think a lot of the season was a bit of a farce, not just one race.
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Yeah see that's my problem. As a poster said above there was so much else wrong with the season. As far as I'm concerned Max's driving was atrocious and he should have been penalised much harsher for at least 3-4 incidents. Even the fact Hamilton got penalised for Silverstone was a joke, Max turned right into him after Lewis was ahead and had the corner.

I'll fully admit I'm blinded by my dislike of Max but I think he's an arrogant, dangerous driver and the officials last year let him get away with murder. Therefore I can't see how he could deserve the title. Masi didn't just fudge the last race, he fudged loads of decisions that went in Max's favour.

IMO probably doing what Toto said and discounting the last lap (or whatever it was) would be fairer.
 
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