These are intense days in the FIA headquarters. The need to conclude the internal analysis on the Abu Dhabi ‘facts’ is intertwined with the potential corrections to be proposed to prevent Formula 1 from experiencing a situation like the one that occurred last December at Yas Marina.
What happened in the last Grand Prix of 2021 was not just a badly managed and unfortunate circumstance, but an event that brought out a series of problems that are largely already known.
If the FIA has taken a long time to provide an answer (expected next Monday) it is not because of the difficulties in clarifying the facts of Yas Marina, but to be ready to offer concrete solutions to the critical issues that emerged at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. .
In the last few weeks a sort of toto-Masi has gone wild, that is a series of names that could potentially replace the Australian race director, but it is an understatement to think that the work of the FIA will be to propose a new name.
The International Federation will try to defend the work of Masi himself (a task not the simplest after the storm that hit him after Yas Marina) but above all it will propose a restructuring, a subdivision of the tasks that until last year were exclusive competence of the race director.
Multiple names for multiple roles
For this reason, the names that circulate among the experts are different, all race directors already in service for years in the FIA championship, such as Eduardo Freitas (WEC), Niels Wittich (DTM) and Scott Elkins, engaged in Formula E. But they are not necessarily potential ‘new farms’, but rather people who will complete a more complex structure.
As explained by Motorsport.com last January 31, the International Federation will also support a sort of remote garage that will operate along the lines of the VAR’s work in football, a choice that goes well with the aim of breaking up the tasks.
What emerged in a clear way after the death of Charlie Whiting is the lack of candidates with a good background of experience, a fundamental requirement in a strategic role such as that of the race director, and it is understandable that today the idea is to fragment the activities in charge of a single figure to allow the system to be optimized.
Rumors report that Wittich could fill a role with important operational duties alongside Masi, and that Freitas (consistent with his commitments in the WEC) could at least initially attend the remote garage.
If a sort of triad will operate, even the critical issues will be fragmented, and whoever is called to clarify will be able to operate in a condition of less stress than in the past, when everything was focused on a centralizing figure.
There are also other advantages that such a structure can guarantee. Even if with distinct tasks, having more people directly involved in the direction of a race contributes to the growth of the experience of several figures, and in the event of an absence, the impact undoubtedly becomes less than what the structure can suffer. which operated until last year. Even the institutional tasks (such as, for example, the homologation of circuits) that are currently the responsibility of Masi, could be assigned to more people, depending on availability.
The most difficult match between the FIA and Liberty
In addition to the men who work on the field, the FIA is also reconsidering the rules, written and not only. After Yas Marina it emerged that a tacit agreement is in place according to which it is strongly advised to avoid the conclusion of a race under the safety car regime, and this was most likely the
which is why Masi has accelerated the restart procedure as much as possible, not allowing all the lapped cars to catch up with the lap time.
The difficult coexistence between safety, regulations and entertainment seems to be the biggest challenge that the governance of Formula 1 will have to face, because the needs of the parties involved are different, and finding a balance is anything but simple.
The only solution is the compromise, easy to hypothesize but tremendously complex since it involves a renunciation of all those who sit around the negotiating table. A difficult prospect to accept but vital to ensure a smooth running of the Grand Prix without long controversy lines. There will be no trace of these possible agreements in the sporting regulations, but they will be the most important for the future of Formula 1.
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