The FIA actually wanted to cause fewer discussions with its decision to remove Michael Masi as Formula 1 race director. Masi had been sacked following his decisions at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi and replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, who share the post of race director this season.
However, the discussions have not diminished. Instead, the focus was on other topics, so the drivers still see room for improvement even without Michael Masi.
Wittich in particular was the focus of his decisions at the start of the season. Among other things, the former DTM race director had concentrated on a ban on jewelry and wearing the right underwear and wanted to punish offenses severely. This had caused some protests and, among other things, made Sebastian Vettel put on underpants over his racing suit.
For the German, the regulations are “something banana”, as he says and wanted to express that. “Everyone has to decide for themselves,” he told Sky. “But I don’t think it’s good for our sport to be threatened by the FIA with a quarter of a million dollars or euros if you’re wearing underpants.”
Although Vettel can understand the safety considerations behind it, he still finds it exaggerated, since the rules have been in place for all these years, but have not necessarily been implemented. “Someone like Lewis, who asks himself, what’s the point now?” said the German.
But Wittich also had some points of contention on the track: Carlos Sainz was angry that the race control in Jeddah didn’t intervene before it was clear that he was ahead of Sergio Pérez at the pit exit line, Alpine raged in Miami about a penalty against Fernando Alonso, and there too the drivers were dissatisfied with the lack of a TecPro barrier at the scene of the accident involving Sainz and Esteban Ocon.
Ralf Schumacher agrees with Wittich
All this together had created tensions between the drivers and the race control. Ex-driver Ralf Schumacher, who knows Wittich from the DTM and has clashed with him more than once, knows about the character traits of the German: “He leaves little room for any interpretations and he has a very tough nature,” he says at “Sky “.
In the underpants debate, however, he sees Wittich as right: “That has nothing to do with free decision or individuality,” he says. “I don’t drive my car without a seat belt anymore because I don’t care that I hurt myself, there’s something behind it. People have to pay for my health somewhere. And the same is true for burns, which don’t have to be.”
Since Eduardo Freitas took over from Wittich in Barcelona and Monaco, the subjects of underpants and jewelry have receded into the background for the time being. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any contentious issues.
In Monaco there was a protest from Ferrari because the Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez are said to have driven over the yellow line when exiting the pits. Reference was made to the event notes of the race organizers, which, however, were contrary to the sports code and were therefore invalid according to the race stewards.
“There is still room for improvement”
“Some decisions are a bit difficult at the moment,” says Fernando Alonso when asked about the new race director. “We saw some things early in the year that weren’t as consistent as we would have liked.”
“There is still room for improvement,” says the Spaniard and has confidence in the new FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem: “He will fix things that need to be fixed.”
Lewis Hamilton knows that Ben Sulayem has “in big footsteps” and therefore needs to be given time. “There’s a lot of things he wants to do and a lot of things he wants to change, and I think he’s going to do that,” said the Brit.
And although he was the center of attention regarding the jewelery debate and has so far refused to take off his jewellery, Hamilton has confirmed that the new race director has done a good job so far. “But it gets even better,” he says. “We must have confidence that they will continue to make progress.”
“One would be better than two or three”
A big question is whether it is really good from the point of view of Formula 1 to have two race directors at the same time. “One would be better than two or three,” says Valtteri Bottas against the new model. “Because then you always have the same person, and if he’s been to all the races and has taken the feedback, then he also knows our views.”
Kevin Magnussen, who thinks it’s difficult “to understand what the rules are” with two race officials, would also agree.
George Russell, on the other hand, would give the two race directors more time: “We’ve only seen seven races – five, or two for the two,” says the Mercedes driver and would like an open dialogue and an open relationship between the drivers and the race director. “But that will take a few more races, but hopefully we’ll be on the same page then.”
“Of course we are the only 20 drivers in the cars,” continues the Briton, “and we know what the racetracks are like and what needs to be done to improve safety and the races. And we need this open relationship in order to to advance the sport in all directions.”