'New race director' likely in 2022 – FIA

Jan.31 (GMM) F1’s governing body has admitted that under-fire race director Michael Masi’s job is set to change in 2022.

Officially, the FIA declared at the weekend that “no decision” has been taken, amid reports Masi will be joined by ‘race co-directors’ this year.

And Peter Bayer, who is the head of Formula 1 matters for the Paris-based federation, insisted that the FIA continues to support Australian Masi despite calls for his ousting.

“Michael does not have social media accounts but he was struck by the hospitality he felt through other channels,” Bayer told the Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

“In our conversations with him, I assured him that the federation supports him and told him that we wanted to continue working with him.

“But at the same time, we must understand that we are investigating this matter,” he added. “There is a possibility there could be a new race director.

“We are looking to divide the various tasks of the race director, who is also sports director, safety delegate and track delegate. It is simply too much.

“These roles are to be divided between several people, reducing the burden on the race director.”

Another change for 2022, Bayer foreshadowed, is a radio “buffer” between the team bosses like Toto Wolff and Christian Horner and the race director.

“The team managers will still be able to talk, but we want to build in a buffer with someone who accepts these requests. The race director must be able to concentrate on his task,” he said.