FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has hit back at the criticism aimed at Formula 1’s race directors.
The role of the sport’s Race Control team has been under increased scrutiny in recent years after a number of high-profile controversies, which culminated with the finale of the 2021 season.
Race director Michael Masi failed to follow the correct procedure at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, allowing the race to be restarted too soon after a Safety Car incident, which in turn led to Max Verstappen passing Sir Lewis Hamilton for the lead on the last lap and with it the race win and the championship title.
Following this highly controversial incident, Masi was removed from his post and two new race directors were installed with Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas sharing the role throughout the season.
However, for many the two directors have struggled to adapt to their new job and some have gone as far as to say that things are now worse than they were before Masi’s departure.
But Sulayem, who is only in his first year as FIA president, has called for patience, telling Speedweek: ‘It starts with my role. The federation needs to be broad enough to allow the sport to continue to grow without this being tied to any one person.
‘We have a great many tasks ahead of us. Formula 1 alone is a huge challenge. The GP drivers have asked me to take care of the Race Control issue.
But I can’t very well search for new race directors on Google or buy them on Amazon. Race directors have to be trained carefully and over years.
‘I go back to my experience in rallying on that. Back then, we had a rotation principle for the co-drivers, for example, so it wasn’t bad if a co-driver dropped out. In Formula 1, we have to be much more diversified.’
There has been talk of a rift between the FIA and F1 bosses, teams and drivers, with the two sides failing to see eye-to-eye on several matters.
The FIA has been heavily pushing the rules regarding wearing jewellery in the cockpit, much to the fury of several drivers including Hamilton, who see it as a non-issue.
Meanwhile drivers including Carlos Sainz Jr. have accused the governing body of ignoring the drivers when they bring up their own safety issues, after the Ferrari man injured himself at the Miami Grand Prix.
At the latest round in Monaco there was further criticism aimed at the race directors after the start was delayed without explanation and later when the race clock continued to run in spite of a red flag.
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