Former F1 driver Marc Surer believes that the FIA should have shown support for former race director Michael Masi.
As part of a Race Control restructuring by the FIA following the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, Masi has left the race director role which will now be shared and rotated between two people, with a virtual Race Control also to be set up, comparable to VAR in football.
But while many believed that Masi’s position was untenable, Surer thinks that the FIA could and should have backed him, but instead gave in to outside pressure.
? | Michael Masi will be replaced as #F1 race director for the 2022 season. pic.twitter.com/zW5B7sIluj
— Planet Sport (@PlanetSportcom) February 17, 2022
“I think it was an overreaction of the FIA to get rid of Masi,” he told Formula1News.co.uk.
“Because overall over the whole season and over the last years he did not do a bad job.
“I think [the FIA] needed a new organisation to take pressure from the race director but it didn’t need to replace him, because I think a lot of decisions are made under pressure and you have no time to decide and you have the team managers in your ears trying to influence you; that was just too much, I can imagine why all this happened.
“So, why replace Masi? It was because of the pressure from the outside and not because he did a bad job. He made maybe some bad decisions yes, but not a bad job.”
The new race director duo will be made up of World Endurance Championship race director Eduardo Freitas, alongside Niels Wittich who recently departed that role in DTM.
The pair will be assisted by Charlie Whiting’s former deputy Herbie Blash, which Surer feels is the main positive to come from this restructure.
“But the good thing is they re-organised the management and I am very, very happy that Herbie Blash is back,” he confirmed.
“We should not forget that with Charlie Whiting, he always praised him for his good decisions, but a lot of the time there was always Herbie Blash alongside him.
“So to hear that he is back is the best message.”
Masi it is believed will take up a different position within the FIA moving forward.
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