Is Masi departure announcement timed to be before Mercs launch tomorrow? i.e. teams know what's happening in restructure, so if Lewis was there saying he was driving and no announcement from FIA it might look a bit suspect. Maybe without the announcement any questions to Lewis could have been uncomfortable as he would have known Masi was going?
So that's all the Lewis hamilton changes completed. The irony is he was removed for allegedly being swayed. But the FIA have been swayed again by removing him...
He wasn't removed for allegedly being swayed. He was removed for clearly and evidently ignoring all rules and precedent regarding the safety car, in the defining moment of the season.
Lol... I think his removal has a lot more to do with Merc agreeing to not drag the sport through the court than any influence Hamilton would have. Which would amount to near naught.
Masi failed to follow the rules and essentially created a void race- he is very lucky the record book doesn’t show that because it would have reflected even more poorly on him. His petulant, “look at me” comment of “it’s called a motor race” was the giveaway for me that told us his ego isn’t up to coping with a job of this magnitude and responsibility and he has deservedly been removed and very lucky to be offered something else. He was incredibly irritating all year IMO. I don’t blame the teams at all and I certainly don’t blame the drivers. Hamilton was robbed of an 8th title, and Max has to sit there with a tainted first title. It was a ****show and unacceptable.
So now what were getting is VRCR which is F1s version of VAR... teams won't be able to directly contact the race director but go through this council instead. Also communication of this council from the teams won't be broadcast. The VRCR will also make sure the rules are followed by the teams and the race director
He was made a scapegoat. He had obviously Been pressured into not finishing the race under safety car. Unpopular opinion: his solution might be a good idea for the future. It takes too long for races to get back underway waiting for all lapped cars to unlap and get back around under yellow wasting many laps of racing.
There might well have been a call from someone up the food chain who told him to create a wholly new application of the rules. Until we have any evidence of that, however, the buck rests with him. Even if he did receive that call, he still has a decision to make between doing the right thing or the thing his bosses have told him to do. He still had agency and so still has a high level of responsibility in the scenario where he got 'the call'.
I agree, it was obvious that the FIA/Liberty had been manipulating things to make sure the chmapionship went down to the last race, I really don't think they cared too much who won, by maybe Masi or someone else at the FIA thought they owned Max for all the decisions that went for Mercedes in the run up to the last race. I think they have made Masi a scape goat, mainly to appease Mercedes and Hamilton. They've made some changes, shuffled some peices around and are hoping it will all go away. It will probably work too, as soon as testing gets underway, there will be very little noise made about this.
I think he had to go. My guess is that Liberty/ FIA wanted to see a titanic struggle that went down to the wire, with drama and excitement until the final metre. Fantastic for the fans, the sport, the sponsors, the marketability and the business. But, instead of just hoping it would happen, they tried to make it happen and they ended up with a huge own goal. The season climax was suddenly an embarrassment that had tainted the sport, and everybody knew it (Liberty, FIA, F1, teams, drivers, sponsors). Board rooms would have been full of "This is a disaster, and it must never happen again" They needed new processes to ensure that future WDCs are not tainted by suspicion or speculation. Out came the whiteboards and the workshops until... "Perfect! Well done, everyone. That will work. Ok, so we have our new model that's not tainted. We just need to put some names in there. Michael as Race Director? Hmmm, hang on..." He's too tainted to stay in that role. He really had to go. Is it harsh on him? Perhaps. He was clearly under pressure from Merc & Red Bull, but I expect his own bosses were trying to influence him too. He was left exposed. Is he a scapegoat? Probably, if he's the only one who lost his job from this. I imagine that if we knew all the circumstances, we'd be saying that a whole bunch of heads should have rolled.
There is still the issue of consistency in penalties, which is of course is the Stewards responsibility. Really hope this is going to be addressed.
And here we go https://f1i.com/news/432393-f1-safety-car-procedure-tweaked-in-latest-sporting-regs.html
That feels like an attempt to make it look like Masi was doing the right thing, just ahead of the rules catching up with him. Can't say I agree with the change, being able to restart the race with a Haas in the middle of a tight battle for the podium is daft. It's also way more subjective. If half the backmarkers are through but there's still 5 cars between Lewis and Max, do you restart? Max would probably rather have the 5 cars cleared so he gets a better run at Lewis - in any circumstances other than Abu Dhabi 21.
I agree that this rule change seems more likely to create problems with some lapped cars in the pack and others not. At the point the safety cars goes in the pits there could be lapped cars up to racing speed coming past some of the non lapped cars!!! Seems like a complete mess of a rule! Can't see it helping at all. Last years mess was created by the race director not sticking to the rules (we were subsequently told that was his prerogative!), there was nothing wrong with the rules as written. It smacks of changing the rules to be seen to do something... Not a good change.
I question the need for a safety car. There could be a 2 tier virtual safety car, two different speeds, a lower speed for a more serious event. Alternatively, if a safety car is needed for some reason, why unlap the cars at all? The current system is designed to throw a wild card into the mix (maybe more of a wild car into the mix where Max is concerned). Another thought, if there are less than 10 laps to go, red flag the race and restart after the track is clear. But perhaps fairness is not the objective, jeopardy being more entertaining.
Yeehaa Daytona 500 starting, you in @SgtBhaji ? Jacques 'le twat' Villeneuve is racing, didn't know he'd joined Yeehaa.
