FIA confirm Michael Masi removed as race director

chrismscotland said:
That's only the rules while forming up and physically being behind the safety car; once the "Safety Car in this lap" message is issued and the lights on the SC are extinguished the leading car dicates the pace (and usually the SC disappears into the distance at this point)

Article 39.13 does however offer this up:

39.13 In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to the pits, from the point at which the lights on the car are turned out drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.

However it doesn't say that cars need to stay "in-line"
Click to expand...


There is no rule saying, once the safty car in this lap has been displayed, drivers do not have to stay in line any more.

Therefore the earlier rule of forming up in line behind the safety car still applies, as no other rule has rescinded that earlier rule, so it is obviously still in force untill leading car crosses start line, and free racing continues.

As I say poor application of rules that clearly exist.
 
Last edited:
SpeedFreak said:
. It still wouldn't fix what they did to the 3rd and below placed drivers.
Click to expand...

This was the biggest issue and why what Masi did was so obviously wrong and would never be a rule in the rulebook. He basically just arbitrarily decided who was able to race for position on the last lap and who couldn't. In doing so, he even made things even more advantageous for Max, because not only did he get a clear run on fresh tyres on Lewis, but he also had no pressure or threat from anyone behind on the restart. Whether Sainz in 3rd would have tried anything (even if he could) is NOT for Masi to decide. The rules must be applied , and applied fairly to all competitors.
 
Jono8 said:
but he also had no pressure or threat from anyone behind on the restart.
Click to expand...
Yeah this was huge as well. Max never seems that great on rolling restarts, had Sainz got a good drive or been a fraction more on the ball then he could have been all over Max. End result would be those two tussling over the last lap, and Hamilton proceeding to win a very deserved race and championship.
 
I think Max is overly aggressive on safety car restarts. I always thought drivers were supposed to line up behind each other, not get as far alongside as they possibly can. He did it again last weekend to Charles.
 
Feek said:
I think Max is overly aggressive on safety car restarts. I always thought drivers were supposed to line up behind each other, not get as far alongside as they possibly can. He did it again last weekend to Charles.
Click to expand...
I think we discussed that a page or so back. He is overly aggressive and he should have been pulled up on it by now. His weaving on such a narrow street circuit whilst next to Charles was just dangerous imo. Glad Charles shoved him onto the marbles, and got away cleverly again. If it were me I'd be tempted to slowly move across and push him into the wall, so he'd have no choice but to drop behind.

It's very indicative of Max's bully boy attitude to everything... They should tighten the rules to say the cars have to remain lined up for a restart. If everyone did what he did down the field it'd be a pileup.
 
Feek said:
I think Max is overly aggressive on safety car restarts. I always thought drivers were supposed to line up behind each other, not get as far alongside as they possibly can. He did it again last weekend to Charles.
Click to expand...

Agreed. If every car did that it would be carnage. As usual max does whatever he wants and gets away with it.
 
Feek said:
I think Max is overly aggressive on safety car restarts. I always thought drivers were supposed to line up behind each other, not get as far alongside as they possibly can. He did it again last weekend to Charles.
Click to expand...
I'm not aware it's ever really been discussed among F1 personnel, not openly anyway.

I remember on the safety car start at Interlagos in 2003 Barrichello took them slowly up the hill and a fair way along the last few sweepers before accelerating, and people were pulling out and overlapping so as not to lose out. He was criticised then ("not smart, not a smart thing to do Rubens, that's bunching the pack too much" - Brundle) but he didn't do anything wrong by the regulations.

I'm surprised it's not been done more since (and thus might have been clamped down). The only real safety aspect with such backing up is when drivers try to anticipate when the lead driver will floor it - that's what bit them at Mugello in 2020, and was the cause of a crash in one of the F2 races last weekend (Sargeant and Doohan).

I can't remember many other examples since until last season, and maybe it will be clamped down on, but it's up to the drivers. I suppose with these new cars especially it might be more advantageous to stay in the slipstream rather than going off line, but obviously Verstappen has thought differently so far - he's probably more hoping to distract the lead driver, or make them hesitate, but it's not going to work on the likes of Hamilton.
 
Jono8 said:
This was the biggest issue and why what Masi did was so obviously wrong and would never be a rule in the rulebook. He basically just arbitrarily decided who was able to race for position on the last lap and who couldn't. In doing so, he even made things even more advantageous for Max, because not only did he get a clear run on fresh tyres on Lewis, but he also had no pressure or threat from anyone behind on the restart. Whether Sainz in 3rd would have tried anything (even if he could) is NOT for Masi to decide. The rules must be applied , and applied fairly to all competitors.
Click to expand...

Yes Max benefitted from that but unless you wait for all lapped cars to catch up there will always be a car with no pressure from behind on restarts. Generally speaking most fans don't care about that as it happens towards the end of the grid and they just want the racing to restart.
 
bayo000 said:
Yes Max benefitted from that but unless you wait for all lapped cars to catch up there will always be a car with no pressure from behind on restarts. Generally speaking most fans don't care about that as it happens towards the end of the grid and they just want the racing to restart.
Click to expand...

No, that's the reason the safety car is supposed to stay out another lap after the lapped cars are allowed to pass (another normal procedure that Masi threw in the bin to make sure Max had a go at Hamilton).

It was all so stupid and contrived. We didn't need one last lap of racing. Hamilton proved through the entire race that he was miles ahead of Max and everyone else. Hamilton was the deserved winner based on the written rules.
 
Last edited:
Jono8 said:
No, that's the reason the safety car is supposed to stay out another lap after the lapped cars are allowed to pass (another normal procedure that Masi threw in the bin).
Click to expand...
If that was the case it was a new rule. They often used to let cars catch back up, but it wasn't the case every time. When the safety car deltas were introduced it meant if often took too long, depending on what the safety car was out there for.

Other than the obvious only allowing certain cars to unlap themselves, the other thing that bugs me was they could have done it a lap earlier. The track was clear apart from being a bit dusty still, so they could have just said "track slippery in sector x or turn y" and actually got going a lap earlier.

Had they done so then I doubt it would have made any difference to the result, as even if they hadn't moved the lapped cars out of the way, Verstappen would likely have had enough time to pass them under blue flags and catch Hamilton on his fresher tyres. They probably would have jumped out of the way, as drivers are usually reluctant to get in the way of a title decider.
 
this_is_gav said:
If that was the case it was a new rule. They often used to let cars catch back up, but it wasn't the case every time. When the safety car deltas were introduced it meant if often took too long, depending on what the safety car was out there for.

Other than the obvious only allowing certain cars to unlap themselves, the other thing that bugs me was they could have done it a lap earlier. The track was clear apart from being a bit dusty still, so they could have just said "track slippery in sector x or turn y" and actually got going a lap earlier.

Had they done so then I doubt it would have made any difference to the result, as even if they hadn't moved the lapped cars out of the way, Verstappen would likely have had enough time to pass them under blue flags and catch Hamilton on his fresher tyres. They probably would have jumped out of the way, as drivers are usually reluctant to get in the way of a title decider.
Click to expand...

Nope.

It is in the rules that the safety car comes in the lap after.

Also, it's highly unlikely (in fact likely impossible) Max would have got passed all the cars in between him and Lewis, who were themselves racing for position. The distance Lewis would have had between himself and Max on the restart would have been huge.

I'm sorry, but there is no counter or difference of opinion to what happened. It was wrong and Lewis deserved to win and nothing anyone says will change the reality of that.
 
bayo000 said:
No one is disagreeing with what happened but I'm fairly sure we've had restarts before all lapped cars actually caught up.
Click to expand...


We have lots of times


The issue is only letting certain number of cars past, so ALL points positions are competed for fairly and squarely.

AD last year, only 1st and 2nd had fair competition,no other points position had fair competition, and there could have been lots of money involved if some teams had gained places and points in the constructors.

Even 3rd on the podium had no fair competition as there were still back markers between then.
 
Entai said:
We have lots of times


The issue is only letting certain number of cars past, so ALL points positions are competed for fairly and squarely.

AD last year, only 1st and 2nd had fair competition,no other points position had fair competition, and there could have been lots of money involved if some teams had gained places and points in the constructors.

Even 3rd on the podium had no fair competition as there were still back markers between then.
Click to expand...

And all to quite obviously fabricate a last lap showdown between Lewis and Max, sportsmanship and fairness to everyone else be damned.
 
www.racefans.net

FIA seeking third race director for F1, "might use" Masi in a role

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem says former Formula 1 race director Michael Masi could return to the sport in future.
www.racefans.net www.racefans.net

So they’re considering using Masi in future :rolleyes:

By using him, you can guarantee that it would draw unnecessary criticism of any questionable decision he’s involved with. Even if he’s not directly involved, I would bet that the F1 audience would be up in arms and ready to blame him for any bad decisions of a race weekend.

The backtracking about “never getting rid of him” makes me sick. Yes, they said they were going to find him another role… but I’m certain that didn’t mean he’d be back as a race director :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom