FLOYD ON F1: Diplomatic proposal step in right direction

Newly elected FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem – a man determined to ensure the future and growth of world motorsport – has certainly had a baptism of fire.

Taking office in mid-December, a few days after the final F1 race of the year at Abu Dhabi, meant he inherited an incredibly difficult situation. It required careful handling and last week at the F1 Commission meeting, he spoke of his plan to improve F1 refereeing.

“Drawing conclusions from the detailed analysis of the events of the last F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and from the 2021 season, I proposed an in-depth reform of the organisation of refereeing and race direction. It was unanimously supported by F1 CEOs and team principals,” said Sulayem’s statement after last week’s meeting.

“Firstly, to assist the race director in the decision-making process, a virtual race control room will be created. Alike the video assistance referee [VAR] in football, it will be positioned in one of the FIA offices as a backup outside the circuit.

“Secondly, direct radio communications during the race, currently broadcast live by all TVs, will be removed in order to protect the race director from any pressure and allow him to take decisions peacefully.

“It will still be possible to ask questions of the race director according to a well-defined and non-intrusive process.

“Thirdly, unlapping procedures behind safety car will be reassessed by the F1 sporting advisory committee and presented to the next F1 Commission prior to the start of the season.

“Finally, a new race management team will be put in place starting in Barcelona for the test session. Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas will act alternatively as race director, assisted by Herbie Blash as permanent senior advisor.

“Michael Masi, who accomplished a very challenging job for three years as F1 race director, will be offered a new position within the FIA.”

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Experienced race director Freitas has taken charge of the World Endurance Championship, the European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series. He has more than 40 years of motorsport experience, and has worked with both Charlie Whiting and Masi.

Wittich had been race director of DTM until he stepped down at the end of the 2021 season to become support for Masi in 2022. The German was part of the F1 race control team for several races in 2021, plus race director for the FIA’s F2 and F3 championships.

The appointment of Blash is a master stroke. He was Whiting’s deputy race director and right-hand man until the end of 2016.

Responses on social media confirm the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln’s famous statement: “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

Most opinions are firmly based on which team camp you are in, stemming from the heart rather than fair logical assessment, resulting in some interesting and not always polite posts.

Personally, I believe it was a very diplomatic proposal – no blame was apportioned to anyone, but methods of avoiding such a situation in future are offered as are ongoing investigations regarding “unlapping” procedures.

Some are already suggesting the use of alternating race directors could lead to inconsistencies in applying rules and regulations, but the use of two should eliminate the rumours of team favouritism.

It is early days but at least we are seeing constructive proposals and hopefully speedy implementation so we can get back to racing.

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