Sebastian Vettel admits that Formula One is still dealing with a lack of experience in race management after the departure of Michael Masi
Michael Masi left the post of FIA race director for Formula 1 in disgrace after the end of the troubled 2021 championship. The governing body of motorsport tinkered to try to please and show that it was starting from a new, still blank page in the organization of the World Cup. Sebastian Vettel, however, believes that the former director's experience is lacking.
After Masi's departure, the FIA chose Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas to take turns as race director, something they had never done in F1 before, and also added the experienced Herbie Blash as a VAR director, who participates in the decisions director of the FIA offices in England. But something is still missing, according to the four-time champion.
Although the start of the season has not seen any major decisions contested that have changed the course of any of the races, there is some dissatisfaction with the small decisions within the races and the imposition of the jewel rule on the drivers. According to Vettel, Masi, who was director from the sudden death of Charlie Whiting in 2019 until the end of last year, is missing.
"What we're missing now is the experience that Michael had and brought here, because he did it for quite a while and grew a lot doing it," he said.
"It's not an easy position, because there is more focus and more spotlight on what happens inside Race Control. But hopefully things will calm down and we will all find a way to work together, the drivers and the FIA. You can't make everybody [completely] happy, but we need to make both sides a little bit more pleased," he finished.
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